Another World Ends With You
by Korean Boron-Paper Stars
Summary: Harry was hit by Voldemort's curse in the forest, but he didn't end up in King's Cross. Where he did end up was in a place ten years into the future, a continent away, with a magic of its own ... and no idea how he got there.
1. Shibuya

Another World Ends With You

A/N: This story is a crossover between Harry Potter and one of my favorite games, The World Ends With You. Because TWEWY is a short game that spans over the course of only a month, it's really hard to ignore spoilers or to even make it canon-compliant with this story. But I'm going to try my best. If you've never played TWEWY (and I'm assuming most of you have never heard of it) and if you want to play it later, then read this story with a wary eye. It may have spoilers. If you don't care about TWEWY, feel free.

By the way, I have no idea whether Harry would know what a cell phone is. He most likely wouldn't have one but he needs to have one to make this work. Because I don't know British slang or anything like that, I won't give that too much attention.

Eh, one more thing before this story gets started. I'm going to use some actual dialogue, or at least dialogue that is very close to the actual dialogue in TWEWY. This is my first story with TWEWY characters, and considering the circumstances I have to make the characters say something close to what they said in the game.

Disclaimer: I do not own either Harry Potter or The World Ends With You. They both belong to their respective owners.

-

Chapter 1: Shibuya

Harry lay facedown on the pavement, disoriented and unaware of his environment. His head was throbbing with a headache, which was made even worse by the loud chattering surrounding him. A chiming noise sounded and was soon followed by footsteps.

Several long minutes had passed before Harry was able to push himself off the ground. Wearily, he surveyed his surroundings only to find that nothing around him was familiar. Wherever he was, it was definitely not part of Britain.

More importantly, what was he doing in that particular place? The last thing he remembered was … well, nothing. Harry couldn't remember anything other than his name and that he was from Britain. He also had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that there was somewhere important that he had to be at that moment … but he couldn't remember what.

Once more, he chanced a glance at the people and places around him. He was standing in the middle of a busy intersection, people walking in every direction and minding their own business. In the distance there was a multistory building with the numbers 104 emblazoned on the side so that everyone could see.

Again, Harry wondered where he was. He felt out of place amongst the crowd walking past him. Not only were they dressed differently from him – trendy brand clothing from popular designers compared to his black robes – but they _all_ looked different too. Every person on the street was Asian. Harry assumed that he had been transported to some city in Asia … but why?

First things first – he would have to figure out where he was. Harry approached a teenager who was walking in his direction. "Excuse me – " He made to tap the guy on the shoulder, but much to his shock his hand went straight through.

Drawing back as if he were electrocuted, Harry looked down at his hand, mouth agape and speechless. The bystander he had tried to talk to continued on his way as if nothing had happened.

"What the …"

Harry's mind was racing with a million questions and thoughts. What had just happened? Why did his hand go through that other person's body? Why was it that the people around were ignoring him? What had happened to him prior to waking up in the intersection?

A beeping noise from his robes brought him out of his thoughts. Fumbling through the pocket, he pulled out a strange rectangular device, red and folded once over. Flipping it open, he found a message printed on the screen: 1 NEW TEXT MESSAGE.

"Err …" Harry scratched the back of his head. "What's this?" He pressed a few buttons on the device, trying to make it work, and with time a new message popped onto the screen: _Round 1. Reach 104. Game over will result in erasure._

Suddenly, a sharp jolt of pain surged through his hand. Harry gritted his teeth and looked down to see what had happened.

Much to his horror, what he saw was a timer burned into the palm of his left hand. A timer outlined in red counting down numbers, numbers that had previously read 60:00.

For a moment, Harry could do nothing more than stand frozen in place, staring at down at his hand. Then, angrily, he let out a shout. _"What is going on here?"_

Not even a second later, static filled the air and several red graffiti-looking symbols floated into sight. The countdown on his hand momentarily forgotten, Harry involuntarily reached into his other pocket and pulled out a long stick. Too alarmed by the appearance of the symbols, Harry didn't even pause to wonder why he had the stick or how he knew what to do with it. Muttering a string of words under his breath, he pointed the stick at the symbols, but nothing happened.

Emerging from one of the smaller symbols was a green frog creature that hopped towards Harry and attacked him. Once again, Harry attempted to retaliate with his stick, again to no avail.

"There's nothing I can do," Harry muttered, clutching his arm. As much as he hated running away from his problems, there was nothing he could do to fight back. "I have to get out of here."

With that thought in mind, Harry fled the intersection – the frogs close behind him.

-

"How troublesome. We're supposed to work during this week too?" said a redheaded man with a lollipop.

"Oh, quit whining," snapped a pink-haired woman, but her voice was less sharp than it was playful. "Now's our chance to rack up some more points! … Still, I have to admit, it is weird for the Game to be run this week."

"Two weeks in a row, hm?" the man sighed, but then chuckled. "It's unusual all right, but not completely unheard of."

"They've done this before?" asked the woman. "What for?"

"Details, details." The man stuck the lollipop in his mouth casually. "All right, let's do this."

-

Meanwhile, Harry had arrived at a different part of the city. The most noticeable feature was a large statue of a dog in the center of that particular area. Harry didn't have much time to rest, however, for the frogs had already caught up with him.

"I'm sick of this," he growled. "What am I supposed to do?"

The sound of screaming reached Harry's ears just then. He spun around in the direction the voices were coming from, stick drawn, determined to do whatever he could to help. The red graffiti symbols that had been chasing him floated towards a group of people and clung onto them.

And then, both the people and the symbols disappeared into thin air, as if they were never there in the first place.

"W-what …" Harry was horrified. _"What happened to all those people? _Why am I even here?"

"Hey! Anyone!" came an accented voice from somewhere within the area. "Holler back if you haven't made a pact!"

"Huh?" Harry whirled around to find a teenager with spiky red hair and oversized blue headphones running towards him. He was also being followed by frogs. "Behind you! Look out!"

"You!" The kid with headphones took one glance at Harry and yelled, "You're a Player, aren't you? Form a pact with me!"

"A … a pact?" Harry repeated, utterly confused.

"Hurry up! Do you want to be erased? We can't fight the noise until we form a pact!"

Harry had absolutely no idea what the kid was talking about, but he seemed to have an idea what was going on, something that Harry did not. He was also frustrated enough to do anything to get rid of the frogs that were trying to attack him. "Yeah, sure, let's do it."

As soon as the words had left his mouth, Harry and the teen with the headphones were surrounded by a glow of white light. Then, as soon as it had appeared, the light vanished.

"Whoa!" Harry blinked, surprised. The day seemed to be full of nothing but surprises.

"All right," the headphone boy said, glaring at the frogs. "Time to finish this."

Once again, a burst of light blinded Harry, but when the brightness cleared away Harry saw that he was standing alone, in front of the statue of the dog, and that the frogs were staring him down, ready for a fight.

"Hey, where'd that kid go?" Harry thought out loud, taking a quick look around. His attention soon returned to the frogs, as one lunged at him in a tackle. Almost instinctively, Harry raised the stick in his hand and shouted, _"Stupefy!"_

The frog reeled back, obviously hurt from the red jet of light. The other two frogs made to attack Harry as well, but the bespectacled teen simply fired a spell, knocking them back. One of the frogs disappeared in a flash of static when the spell hit it, a second one soon to follow. The third one, on the other hand, mysteriously vanished without warning.

And when the battle was over, the crowds and people were back. The spiky-haired kid who had called out to him was back as well, looking annoyed.

"That took more time that it should've," he grumbled. "Well, there's no use hanging around here anymore. Let's go. 104's the other way."

"Hold it," Harry said. His temper was finally starting to give way. The day had been nothing but unexpected, and who was this kid to tell him what to do? Harry wanted answers, and he wanted them now. "What's going on? Where is this place? And why am I here?"

"You don't know?" The response was not scornful, nor sympathetic. It was more of a statement than a question.

"No, I don't." Harry was barely able to keep his anger in check. "If you know what's going on here, then tell me!"

"We can talk later," the other teen said, his exasperation and impatience becoming evident. "You got that message, didn't you?" He looked down at his hand. "We have less than twenty minutes left."

Harry noticed the numbers ticking down on the other boy's palm, and glanced down at his own. Sure enough, the numbers now read 17:35, whereas they had been 59:40 the last time he had looked. He hated being left out of the loop, being the only one who didn't know what was going on, but the message he had received said that if he didn't reach the 104 – whatever it was – before the timer ticked out, then he would face erasure. Whatever erasure was, Harry know it wouldn't be anything good.

"Fine." Harry frowned. "But after we get to this 104, you're telling me everything." He paused for a moment. "Anyway, I'm Harry Potter. You are?"

The other teen was silent for a moment, then he said, "Neku. Neku Sakuraba."

"Neku?" Harry made a face. "Weird name."

"Agh!" A strangled sound escaped from Neku's throat. "Let's just get going!"

"All right, let's move," Harry said.

-

Harry and Neku made their way back to the intersection about five minutes later. Harry had no idea where to go, but Neku seemed to know the layout of the city very well. He headed north and approached a guy with a red hooded sweatshirt and bat wings sticking out of his back.

"Want past this wall?" the winged guy asked. "Then defeat the noise."

"Noise?" Harry asked. "What are noise?"

"They're those things that we just fought," Neku answered, his voice unable to mask the frustration he was feeling. "You ready to fight again?"

"Oh, sure."

Once again, Harry was pulled into an alternate plane that had no people or obstacles around, only the background and the enemies he had to fight. He was facing against not only frogs in that fight but also two ravens.

Again, Harry fired spells from his stick at the frogs and ravens. With five enemies against him at the same time, however, Harry was attacked a few times from behind. The other boy – Neku – was nowhere in sight, but two of the frogs and one of the ravens burst into static and were defeated even without Harry having to attack them. The battle ended when Harry felled the second raven with a _Stupefy_ spell.

"That was … strange." Harry was starting to wonder how he was able to cast spells with the stick he had, and why he had the stick in the first place.

"Objective complete," said the hooded man. "Wall clear!"

A low sound filled the air, so low that had it been any softer or the crowds any louder Harry would've missed it. Neku, unperturbed by the any of it, continued on his way. He was heading for the building that Harry had spotted in the intersection, the one with the numbers – 104! So the 104 was a place, a building to be specific. Harry went after Neku. The sooner they reached their destination, the sooner he could find out what was happening.

Neku stopped in front of the large white building. He glanced down at his hand and sighed. "Timer's gone. Looks like we completed our mission."

Harry did the same and was relieved to find that the numbers really were gone. "That was odd. But it's all over." He let out a sigh.

"Over?" Neku glared at him. "What are you talking about? _This_ is not over yet. We've still got six more days before it's _over. _And I can't afford any screw-ups. I can't afford to lose. Not now."

"What are _you_ talking about?" Harry snapped, his temper finally boiling over. "And where are we anyway? I don't understand what's going on. I just woke up in the middle of that intersection we just left and it's been one thing after another. And I've had it! Start talking. Now!"

"You really don't remember anything?" Neku asked once again, his anger dimming down to exasperation. "Not even where you are?"

"No! This looks nothing like Britain!"

"Britain? Is this a joke?" Neku clenched his fist, looking mad enough to hit Harry. "You're in Shibuya!"

"Shibuya?" The pronunciation of the word felt unusual on Harry's tongue. "Where …?"

"That's right, we're in Shibuya," Neku said, still looking frustrated. "You're nowhere near Britain. And you know why you're here? You're here for the same reason as me, as all of us."

-

A/N: And here's the end of the first chapter. If you've never played TWEWY, you're most likely just as confused as Harry is. Don't worry, everything will be explained in the next chapter or two. And that's being nice. The game itself doesn't reveal why Neku is in the Game until the fifth day.


	2. Confusion and Chaos

A/N: Looks like I've got a few readers for this story. Thanks for all the views! Anyway, if anyone thinks that Harry and Neku are acting out of character … let me know, okay? I'm having a particularly hard time with Harry. He's not ordinarily hard to write about, but how would he act in this situation? He can't remember anything, so he's particularly short-tempered. And Neku has to be the one to carry the group, although in the game itself he's usually being carried by his partner. Ah, just play the game or read a walkthrough if you've never played it because I can't explain it very well.

-

Chapter 2: Confusion and Chaos

He had been arguing with Neku in front of the 104. The next thing Harry knew, he was standing in the pitch-black darkness. Much like the beginning of the previous day, Harry was alone. His partner – Neku – was nowhere to be found.

"Where am I now?" Harry held his hands out in front of him and stumbled around. "Why is it so dark in here?"

The first thing he would have to do was search for the exit. Then he would track down that Neku kid and have him finish his explanation. Harry had just realized that Neku had yet to finish telling him about their situation; he had barely even begun.

A bright spot of light suddenly appeared in the distance and approached him, growing larger as it neared. Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the light, ready to fight if necessary. But the light turned out to be only Neku, who was holding a glowing object in his left hand.

"There you are." Neku scowled. "Finally awake? Come on, the mission could come in any minute!"

"Mission?" But before he could inquire any further, Harry heard something in his robes beep, the thing in Neku's hand giving off the same sound.

"And there's the mission." Neku let out an aggravated sigh and glanced at the object. " 'Round 2. Rout noise in Udagawa. Time limit: 60 minutes. Game over will result in erasure.' "

Neku had finished reading the message when Harry felt a sharp jolt of pain shoot up his hand. Seeing the way Neku cringed and grabbed his right hand, Harry guessed that he had experienced the same feeling as well. Already knowing what would be there, Harry saw the red timer back on his palm, counting down from 60:00.

"_Udagawa?"_ Neku nearly dropped the object in his hand. "That's nearly half an hour from here!"

Harry, not knowing where or what Udagawa was, remained unbothered. "I guess we better hurry, then."

"No kidding! Hurry up!" Neku snapped, racing away from Harry. His footsteps became more distant and he was soon swallowed by the darkness.

"H-hey! Wait up!" Harry called. "We don't even know where the exit is!"

"It's over here! Now hurry up!" The spot of light and Neku's voice were both coming from the other side of the area.

Shrugging, and a bit irritated at not knowing what was going on, Harry went over to Neku and they both stumbled out of the darkness and into the light.

"So … we're in A-East. Better head back to the scramble and make our way back from there," Neku muttered, pocketing the object in his hand. It was the same rectangular folded object that Harry had found in his robes the previous day, except Neku's was blue instead of red.

"Um, Neku, right?" Harry pointed at the device in Neku's hand, which was halfway in his pocket. "What is that thing?"

Neku turned to him, a look of disbelief on his face. "Are you _trying_ to be infuriating? How could you _not_ know what this is? Don't you have one too?"

"Well, yeah." Harry pulled his out of his robe pocket. "I don't even know how it got there. What's so important about it?"

"Have you been living under a rock for the past twenty years or so?" Neku was scornful. "How could you _not_ know what a cell phone is?"

"Look, I barely know what's going on right now." Harry was starting to get tired of Neku treating him like an idiot. "And you still owe me an explanation."

"Later, okay?" Neku was running down the street. "First we have to make it to Udagawa if we want to complete this mission." He turned a corner and was out of Harry's sight.

The bespectacled boy sighed. Momentarily, he considered leaving Neku to take care of the mission alone, but recalling the events of the previous day changed his mind. Harry didn't know why the frogs had left him alone once he had formed a … pact with Neku; still, he chose not to risk getting chased again.

Harry ran after Neku, hoping that the other boy hadn't put too much distance between them. Rounding the corner, he saw that the district he had just entered was much cleaner and cheerier than the one he had left – A-East, Neku had called it.

The spiky-haired teen was waiting for him in front of a ramen shop, tapping his feet impatiently. Catching sight of Harry, he scowled and stormed over to him. "Come on, let's go! You move too slow!"

"Why the big hurry, kiddo?" the ramen shop owner, an older man with glasses dressed in all white, asked. "Stop by and have some ramen."

It was then that Harry realized he had no idea when the last time he had eaten was. "Good idea. We should probably eat before go any farther."

Neku was about to protest, but changed his mind and sat down in one of the booths. "Fine. Then I'll have a bowl of shoyu ramen."

"Um …" Harry glanced at the menu posted in the front of the shop, a sinking feeling in his stomach when he saw that it was mostly in Japanese. Luckily, underneath the Japanese writing was some English. "I'll have the same thing he's having, please."

"Coming right up!" The ramen guy turned to the stove, then back to Harry and Neku, and placed two bowls of ramen in front of them. "Here you go!"

"That was fast," Neku said. Harry agreed with him.

Not that Neku was going to complain about it. They were on a mission, and the faster their food arrived the sooner they would be able to finish and move on. Neku split his chopsticks and began eating his ramen. Harry was struggling with his chopsticks, not knowing how to use them, but he followed Neku's example and was soon working his way through his bowl as well.

Ten minutes later, Harry and Neku had finished their ramen. Neku paid for both his and Harry's meals, assuming that with all the questions Harry was asking it was unlikely that he had yen with him.

"We still have forty-five minutes." Neku was looking down at his hand. "If we take no more side trips, we should make it there with enough time to complete the mission."

"Lead the way then."

Harry and Neku made their way out of that district, which Neku referred to as Dogenzaka, to the 104 building that they had gone to the previous day, back to the scramble crossing.

"All right … if we're going to Udagawa," Neku muttered, "then we should take the … urgh! Not one of them!"

He was glaring at the route directly to the right of the one he and Harry had just come out of, a guy in a red hooded sweater and bat wings guarding it. Knowing that Neku had talked to a similarly dressed guy to get through to the 104 the day before, Harry wondered what their significance was.

"Want past this wall?" The guy let out a low chuckle. "You, specks!"

"Me?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, you! If you want to get past, then come back here dressed in Wild Boar clothes!"

Neku looked down at his palm again. "We'd better hurry. Follow me. Now."

"Follow you?" Much to Harry's dismay, Neku was heading back towards the 104 building. "But where are we going?"

"That Reaper wants you to dress in Wild Boar clothes, or he won't let us through," Neku said. "Let's get this over with."

He had known Neku for only two days and already he was dragging and bossing Harry around. Really, it wasn't something Harry would put up with but Neku knew something that he didn't, and he had to place his trust in Neku if he wanted to survive. Harry didn't know what he was doing in Shibuya, but he had a feeling that there was somewhere else he needed to be and he had to do something important.

They had reached 104 with plenty of time to spare, but Neku was still restless. The last time he had gone inside the 104, he had been called a spicy tuna roll by some arrogant snob and Shiki had lectured him on trends, and he was hoping that nothing of the sort would happen.

The 104 was overcrowded and loud, as it always was, but Neku had managed to get Harry into one of the stores – one that always had Wild Boar clothing handy, which Shiki had pointed out to him in the last week – without much problem. People around them were pointing and laughing at Harry, who was still wearing his robes and trying hard not to notice. He was failing miserably.

"Why are they laughing at me?" Harry grumbled, shooting a nasty glare at two girls who walked past him giggling.

"It could be your clothes." Neku grabbed a hooded sweater and a baseball cap off one of the racks and threw them at Harry. "Forget them." He then pushed his way through to the accessory section and picked a gold chain necklace at random. "That should be enough."

After he had paid for the clothes, Neku dragged Harry out of the store; the black-haired boy was only too happy to comply.

"Put those on," Neku said as he and Harry walked back to the scramble. "That Reaper wants you to wear it."

"Then hold on to my robe." Harry held it out to Neku, who took it without a word but glared at the garment. "By the way," Harry said, pulling the sweater over his head, "why couldn't people see me on the streets, but how is it that people in shops are able to?"

"We're invisible to people on the streets, but there are stores marked with a decal in which we become visible." Neku watched as Harry placed the cap on his head and put the chain on.

"Oh." Harry couldn't think of anything else to say.

When they had made it back to the scramble crossing, Neku and Harry made a beeline for the Reaper who had sent them shopping, Harry showing off his new Wild Boar clothing and hoping the humiliation would end. The Reaper had laughed at the outfit that Neku had haphazardly pulled off the racks but had let them through. Harry's mood had become even worse than before.

Harry and Neku had gone through four more districts – Center St. Entrance, AMX, Tipsy Tose Hall, and Shibu-Q Heads – without incident before they reached Udagawa. Neku checked the timer on his hand and sighed in relief. "We have a little less than twenty-five minutes. Gives us a bit of time to do this mission."

"Let's do this," Harry said.

The two Players entered Udagawa, prepared to tackle their mission yet unprepared for the sight that greeted them. Neku had expected Udagawa to be mostly empty, save for the people shopping at the two stores in that district, but Udagawa was strangely crammed with people that day. A large crowd was gathered in front of the mural in the Udagawa backstreets, listening to a man standing on a soapbox.

"The mission said to clear the noise," Harry started, "but … what exactly does that mean. And what does it have to do with all these people standing here?"

"I'm not sure but … whoa!" Neku cried out. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"Negativity." Neku closed his eyes and pressed his hands against his headphones. "It's coming from the crowd."

"Really?" Harry attempted to mimic Neku's actions, but came up with nothing. "How can you tell?"

"Try scanning these people with your Player Pin," Neku said. "You can just feel all this negativity."

"All right then." Harry was about to ask Neku what a Player Pin was when his hand brushed his pants and bumped against something in his pocket. Pulling it out, clutched in his hands was a black circular object with a white skull on it. Upon closer inspection, he saw that Neku was holding one in his hand. Assuming that what he was holding was a Player Pin, Harry held onto it tightly and concentrated. All at once, he could hear different voices in his head.

_I knew this was a bad idea. Satoshi just had to bring these guys down here!_

_Oh … I can't believe I skipped out on work. But I couldn't miss out on this! Hope nobody catches me here …_

_What am I doing here anyway? It's not like I believe any of this. I've got to stop letting Sayuri talk me into doing all these things._

Harry let the Player Pin slip from his fingers and the voices stopped immediately. "Were … was I hearing … those people's thoughts?"

"Exactly." Neku nodded and frowned. "This crowd is screaming with negativity. That must be what's drawing the noise in. Well, Harry, you know the mission. Let's defeat the noise."

Nodding in response, Harry reached into his pocket for his stick and held onto it tightly. A few seconds later, he was surrounded with a beam of red light and felt himself being pulled upwards. When the sensation and the light disappeared, he found himself standing in Udagawa, no people around and five noise staring him down: two purple kangaroos, a green frog, a dark blue raven, and a purple porcupine; all of them ready to tear him to pieces.

As he fought against the creatures, Harry noticed several things that had escaped him the previous day. First and hardest to ignore was the green light energy that seemed to pop up from out of nowhere every once in a while. He would land a hit on one of the noise and the light would leave his body and disappear, then reappear again. Harry didn't know why, but his attacks felt stronger whenever he had the green light with him.

He knew when the noise managed to land a hit on him. The pain that accompanied the strikes was hard to ignore. But at times the pain would come even when he wasn't hit. Harry didn't know why, but whenever that happened he couldn't help worrying about Neku.

The partners went through battle after battle, defeating noise after noise. But all their efforts seemed to be in vain; the banished noise were simply replaced by more noise.

"This isn't working," Neku said after ten rounds of fighting noise. "And we have less than ten minutes to complete this mission."

"Why do they keep coming?" Harry was exhausted and nearing his limit.

"Something keeps drawing them here." Neku crossed his arms and glared at the crowd. "But what?"

"It's the speaker," came a voice from behind them. "He, too, is possessed by noise."

"What?" Neku and Harry, surprised to hear someone replying to their question, whirled around to see another pair of people standing at the Udagawa entrance. Two teenagers, a boy and a girl, had just arrived.

"Whew!" said the boy, looking down at his hand. "We just made it!"

"Because the speaker is possessed by noise," explained the girl, "the people listening to him are taking in his negativity, which then draws in noise. If we get rid of the noise around him, then we should be able to stop the noise from coming in."

"That's … a good idea." Harry wondered why he and Neku hadn't thought of it before.

With the additional help of the two new Players, Neku and Harry challenged the noise that was possessing the speaker. Harry caught a fragment of the man's thoughts; he was fuming over the injustices of the world and depressed over how no one seemed to care, and his frustration was welling over to the crowd, who were supposedly people more conscious of world affairs and matters. Neku guessed that the man was trying to give a speech that would motivate people to make a difference, but had become angry thinking about how horrible people could be and then been possessed by noise.

Harry and Neku found themselves against a towering bear noise. It was taller than both boys put together, but it was the only one they were facing. Harry and Neku were able to erase it after several painful minutes of battling.

"It's working!" the girl exclaimed. "The noise is thinning out!"

"We'll clean up here," said the boy. "Leave the rest to us!"

The two Players were then gone in a flash of silver and purple; Harry assumed that they were off fighting noise. He was about to suggest to Neku that they give the other two a hand when Neku spoke up. "Well, timer's gone. I guess this mission's complete."

"Huh? Oh, right." Harry glanced down at his own hand to see that the numbers had indeed vanished. "Good thing that those other two people showed up."

"Yeah." Neku looked down at his shoes to hide his expression, but Harry hadn't missed the tone of his voice. He didn't sound too happy.

Behind them, Harry could hear the now de-noised speaker giving the speech he had been meaning to give. The negativity was gone, replaced by plans for a better world, and the crowd had lost its pessimism as well.

"Another mission down." Harry turned around to see that the girl and her partner were back. "It was nice meeting you two. We couldn't have done it alone. My name is Miyuki Kuroda. This is my partner Kiyo Takahashi."

"Hey." Kiyo waved. "And who are you to?"

"Oh, uh, my name is Harry Potter," he introduced himself. "And my … partner, Neku."

"Harry Potter?" Kiyo made a face. "You're not from here, are you?"

"Well, no …"

"That must suck," said Miyuki, her voice sympathetic. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, we'll make it through." Kiyo grinned. "We're all going to win this and make it back!"

Harry was more confused than ever. What did his not being from Shibuya have to do with anything, and why were they sorry for it? And where were they supposed to make it back to? He turned to Neku, hoping to ask him to explain, but the redheaded boy was not looking at them or even at the crowd, seemingly lost.

Again, Harry wondered what he was doing in Shibuya.


	3. Vantage

A/N: All right, here's the next chapter. Sorry that it's a little behind schedule.

If there are any TWEWY fans out here, well, this chapter may feel a little rushed to you guys. The game itself doesn't go into this until the fifth day, after all. Even if this is only the third chapter, though, I find it appropriate enough. Honestly, I'm surprised that Shiki and the others were able to keep Neku from finding out the truth about the Players until the fifth day.

This story won't go more than a week, so I don't have the luxury of putting the twists and mysteries that TWEWY does. Because this story is more about Harry than Neku and I have a lot of things to cram into seven chapters, everything from the first week in TWEWY is going to be revealed sooner in this story than it was in the game. Onto the story!

Like I said, some of the lines in this story will be extremely close to what the characters actually say in the game, if not the actual dialogue. It's mostly because the situations are similar and I don't know how to make the characters' quotes different.

-

Chapter 3: Vantage

The room was both simple and ethereal. There was nothing special about its contents, consisting of only common household items, but the walls and the floor appeared to be made out of water – a true marvel. The shadows of numerous fish swam underneath the transparent tiled floor.

In the center of the room stood three figures, their faces shrouded by shadows; a man with long black hair, dark sunglasses, and red headphones around his neck; a tall blonde woman with glasses and a stern expression; and a younger man with brown hair and a black T-shirt emblazoned with some logo.

Just then, a tall dark-haired man dressed in all black strode into the room, a leering smirk on his face. He held himself with an arrogant confidence, as if the people whose presence he was in were not worth his time.

"Ten minutes and twenty-seven seconds late, Minamimoto," said the woman, both her eyes and voice cold as ice. "That is forty-five seconds later than last time."

"Well, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally," responded Minamimoto just as coolly. He then turned to the first man and demanded, "What the factor are we even doing here again, Megs?"

"You will refer to him as Mr. Kitaniji," the woman snapped, her eyes betraying nothing.

Kitaniji, unperturbed by Minamimoto's obvious lack of respect, held up a hand. "Let it go, Konishi."

"Yes, sir."

"Now," started Kitaniji, "I have called you all here to introduce this week's Game Master, Hajime Noboru."

"Hey," greeted the final occupant in the room. "Just you wait. By the time this week is over, it'll be check and mate for all those Players."

Minamimoto let out a haughty laugh. "Like you could do better than that hectopascal from last week. I'm out of here." With that, he strolled away whilst muttering the first hundred or so digits of pi under his breath.

"Wait just a second, Minamimoto –"

"It's quite all right, Konishi," Kitaniji cut her protests short. "Give the man some space."

"Yes sir." Konishi readjusted her glasses and began her report. "According to my observations, there is a Player in this week's Game who has demonstrated extraordinary talent."

"Very interesting …" Kitaniji, a tiny intrigued smile on his face, stroked his chin. "What more do you know about this Player?"

"Sir. His Soul has a power unlike any other in Shibuya. I have never seen anything like it before."

"I felt it too," Noboru spoke up, interrupting Konishi's report. "The two Players who first reached 104 on the first day, it was coming from one of them. One of them was dressed funny too, like one of those mages in videogames."

"Hmm …" Kitaniji pondered the information given by both Konishi and Noboru, then said, "Konishi, keep an eye on this Player. Find out more about him."

"Yes, sir."

"And Noboru." He turned to the younger man. "You are the Game Master. As my proxy, I expect you to have all the Players erased."

Noboru laughed confidently. "Nothing to worry about, sir. By the seventh day, it will be endgame for them."

-

He was surrounded by sound, so deafening and loud it was unlike anything he had ever heard before. Harry was used to the shrill piercing shrieks that his aunt Petunia would make in the mornings, but what he was listening to could be described only as pure noise. There were voices mixed in with the sounds, but Harry could not bring himself to call it music.

"It's about time you woke up!" came a familiar, irritated voice from not far off. Neku stormed over to Harry, looking annoyed as usual. "Took you long enough!"

Nowadays, the first person whom Harry would hear when he woke up was his angry partner, Neku Sakuraba. Harry didn't think that anyone could be worse than his loathsome relatives, the Dursleys, but Neku was rather close to the top of his list. Harry hated how Neku would treat him like an idiot – expecting him to know everything, constantly dragging him around town with no explanation.

But Harry couldn't bring himself to abandon Neku. Much as he didn't want to admit it, Harry had no idea why he was in Shibuya, how he got there in the first place, what would happen to him if he stopped following Neku around … what would happen if the timer on his hand ever hit zero?

Until he was able to find out what he was in the Game for, he would have to stick around with Neku. Harry could barely stand the idea of being around Neku any longer then he had to, but he had no choice but to deal. Neku appeared to know what was going on, and Harry was planning on learning what he could from him.

"Hmm?" Neku reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "The mission's here."

Harry took out his own cell phone as well, giving it a funny look. He had never seen one before his arrival to Shibuya, but he had noticed after two days that all the people in that city had one. As Neku read the mission out loud, Harry read it silently to himself. _Arrive at the Station Underpass. Time limit: 30 minutes. Game over will result in erasure._

His hand jolted with a sharp pain soon after he had finished the message, but Harry had expected it. Neku flinched as well, but soon regained his composure once the feeling was gone.

"The Station Underpass?" Neku thought out loud. "It's not that far from here, but we'd better move _now, _just in case there are any surprises in our way."

Sourly, Harry remembered how the man with the red hooded sweater had made him dress in a certain brand of clothing before he would let them continue on their way. He had seen the guys in the red sweaters all around town, and he hoped that none of them would bother him that day.

"You move, too!"

"I'm coming!" Harry retorted, hurrying to catch up with Neku.

-

Neku and Harry had left the AMX district and entered Center St. Entrance, where, much to both their chagrins, a Reaper in red was guarding the route back to the scramble. Harry's instincts told him to run and he began inching back towards AMX when Neku grabbed him by his robes.

"Where are you going?" Neku snapped. "The Station Underpass is in _this_ direction."

"I am _not_ looking forward to dealing with that … Reaper, or whatever you call him," Harry hissed back.

With a long-suffering sigh, annoyed that Harry seemed to do nothing but complain, Neku argued, "We have to clear the mission! And the only way to get to the Station Underpass is through here! So get moving!"

Harry sighed as well, exasperated with Neku and his insisting that they clear the daily missions. Was there a good reason to doing so? Before Harry could tell Neku that he was through with doing pointless tasks, the redhead had already approached the Reaper and demanded to know what they had to do to get through.

"Want past this wall?" the Reaper asked. "Bring me one Rare Metal pin, and I'll let you pass."

Wondering what a Rare Metal pin was, and how they were going to get their hands on one, Harry half-expected Neku to start dragging him across town again. Much to his surprise, Harry saw Neku reach into his pocket and rummage through it. A few seconds later, Neku produced a brown pin inlaid with yellow gemstones and handed it to the Reaper.

"Oh, so you got it?" After examining the pin carefully, the Reaper handed it back to Neku and cleared the wall for them.

"What was the point in asking you to bring him that pin if he was going to give it back to you?" Harry said.

"Never really bothered to think about it," Neku answered with a barely noticeable frown. "Well, the wall's down. Let's go!"

Seeing no reason to further delay their trip, Harry went after Neku without a word of complaint. As the two stepped into the scramble crossing, they were bombarded by a loud electronic voice coming from above.

"Where's that sound coming from?" Harry shouted, drawing his wand and throwing glances around the intersection.

"Up there." Neku pointed to a television screen high above the ground, at the top of one of the buildings. Watching the commercial, he said after a while, "It's that pin Shiki and I had to promote in the first week."

"Shiki?" Harry repeated the name and decided that it sounded just as bad as Neku's. "Who's Shiki?"

The spiky-haired boy didn't answer immediately. Neku shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down, his expression hidden by the oversized collar of his shirt. A moment later, he responded. "She was my partner from the last week," he said. "And because of that … they made her my entry fee for this week."

Harry couldn't think of anything to say to that, so he remained silent, waiting for his partner to continue.

Neku finally raised his head, a serious look on his face. "I got her dragged into this mess, and I have to win for her. I'm not letting other Players do the missions for me. I can't take risks when Shiki's at stake."

Nodding slowly, Harry took a moment to process the information, then asked, "You said that this girl … Shiki, was your entry fee. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"Um …" Neku made a face. "You have to give up what you value most in order to enter the Game. Yours was probably your memories, seeing as how you don't know anything."

"Well, what was your entry fee for the previous week?" Harry asked.

"…" Neku seemed reluctant to answer. "My memories. I woke up face down in the scramble crossing with no idea how I got there or why I was part of the Game."

"So you were like me." Harry was beginning to feel his anger rising again. Neku had been in the same situation as him in the previous week, and yet he had been treating him like an idiot for not knowing anything.

Both Harry and Neku were silent, the tenseness between them unbearable. Harry was about to ask Neku why they were part of the Game in the first place when Neku beat him to it. "We don't have time for this! We have only fifteen minutes to get to the Station Underpass. Move. Now!" And he ran to the other side of the scramble.

Now that Neku had opened up a little to Harry, telling him about Shiki and how he was so insistent on the mission because of her, Harry found his irritation with Neku lessening – but it was still there. Still, the bespectacled boy went after his partner.

-

Harry and Neku hurried past the Statue of Hachiko, the former taking note that it was the place where he had met Neku. Seeing a group of friends who were meeting in front of the statue, Harry guessed that it was a popular gathering spot in Shibuya.

"We're almost there," Neku said. "We should be able to make it in time, as long as nothing gets in our way."

"Like another one of those Reapers?" Harry suggested.

The other boy looked almost panicked, as if his partner was naming an obstacle, but he was relieved to see that the route to the West Exit Bus Terminal was clear.

When the Statue of Hachiko was no longer visible behind him, Harry turned to Neku and asked, "Are we close?"

"Yeah, it's just over there." Neku pointed to a tunnel down the street. "Good. We made it here with plenty of time."

"All right, then let's go and complete this mission –" Harry stopped.

He had been facing the Station Underpass, not expecting to see anything out of the ordinary. Not even the pair of people heading towards the underpass had caught his attention. What Harry did notice was one of the red graffiti-like symbols floating in the air, in the direction of the underpass. That was when he picked out the faces of Miyuki and Kiyo, the Players who had helped him and Neku the previous day, in the crowd.

Kiyo was standing in front of the tunnel, waving to Miyuki who was running over to him. Then, he seemed to notice someone – or something – behind his partner and dread washed over his features. Then, he was racing over to Miyuki … pushing her out of the way. It was only then that Harry noticed that the red symbol had been behind Miyuki, following her. Right as the girl fell to the ground, the graffiti-like symbol began glowing. A blue raven, the same kind of noise that Harry had fought the past two days, materialized from the symbol and raked its talons across Kiyo's back. Then, before Harry could even blink, Kiyo had vanished in a burst of static.

"W-what …" Harry couldn't even get the words out. "What was that?"

Neku was just as shocked as Harry was, but at the same time not confused at what had happened. "No …"

Miyuki was staring at the spot where Kiyo had last been, eyes wide and mouth agape. "N-no. No! Why … why did this …"

Anger like he'd never experienced before surged through Harry. Reaching for his wand, he began muttering a few choice words under his breath only to remember that without Neku, his powers were useless. He was about to tell Neku that they had to save the girl when Neku shouted, "Come on, let's get rid of that noise!"

Momentarily surprised by Neku's reaction, it took a few seconds for Harry to be able to reply. "R-right."

Challenging the raven noise, along with the two frog and wolf noise that accompanied it, Harry took out every bit of his anger and frustration on the creatures. He was angry that he was helpless to save a person whom he had talked to, who had been standing just in front of him; frustrated about the Game and everything about it.

It had taken him and Neku at least five minutes to fight them off. Once they had finished, Harry went over to the girl, Miyuki, who hadn't moved from her spot. She seemed frozen in shock.

Harry shook her. "Come on, get up. We … we have to keep going –"

"It's no use," she said, a somber expression on her face. "I lost Kiyo. I'm done for."

"What? No you're not!" Harry fought a swell of irritation. "Don't give up now –"

"A Player whose partner is erased has only seven minutes to live." Neku's voice was monotonous and devoid of emotion, but he was hanging his head again.

"But there must be something –"

"It's all right," said Miyuki as she stood back up. "I wasn't strong enough, and that's that. It's the end of the road for me." Her face softened then. "Harry Potter and Neku, right? I hope you guys survive the week. And Harry?" She turned to him. "I don't know where you're from, but I know you'll get back there." And with that, there was a flash of light and she too was gone.

The moment she had disappeared, Harry let out a howl and held his head in his hands. _"Why?_ Why does it have to be like this? Why couldn't we save them?"

"I-I don't know." Neku was still looking down at his feet. His face betrayed no emotion, but on the inside he was feeling worse than Harry. It had been bad enough when Rhyme was erased the previous week. And although he didn't know Miyuki and Kiyo as well or as long as he had known Rhyme and her partner Beat, it still hurt having to go through that experience again … unable to do anything about it. For a moment, Neku began wondering what the point of building friendships, getting to know other people, was – coming to know them, caring about them … getting hurt when they were gone. But then he remembered Shiki. "We have to move," he finally said. "The mission's not done yet."

"Screw the mission!" Harry glared at Neku, furious. "What about them? Are we supposed to just sit here and do nothing about it? Just … just forget about them?"

"No. We have to win. For them as well as ourselves." Neku crossed his arms. "We only have three minutes to complete the mission, and it looks like no one else has reached the underpass. If we don't clear this mission, then we'll all get erased! Do you want that?"

"…" Harry settled for giving Neku one last glare, but instead of arguing further, he followed Neku to the Station Underpass, walking under the tunnel. The entire time, though, he felt like yelling at someone – namely Neku – to take out his sorrows out on.

They had entered the underpass when Neku took a glance at his palm and said, "Timer's gone. That's that."

"And this is it for you."

"Huh?" Neku and Harry whirled around, ready for a fight. "Who said that?"

"Me, you Player units," came a voice from behind. Followed by the voice was a figure that stepped out of the shadows, a person with brown hair dressed in a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt that had some logo printed across it. He had a confident smirk on his face; clearly, in his mind, Harry and Neku were no threat.

"So you're the Player, huh?" he said, leering at Harry. "I can feel the power of your Soul. It is unlike that of any other. Guess I better keep my eye on you."

"You're the Game Master for this week, aren't you?" Neku demanded of him, becoming even tenser if that were possible.

"Correct, Spiky, I'm Game Master Hajime Noboru," he introduced himself, the feral grin never leaving his face. "Remember that name. Don't you just _love_ games? How are you enjoying yourselves?"

"_What?"_ Harry was outraged – outraged at this person calling himself the Game Master … that he had the nerve to treat the lives of people as a joke. He drew his wand and pointed at Noboru. _"Stupe –"_

"Don't do that!" Neku shouted, knocking the stick out of Harry's hand. "You can't fight him yet, and you can't fight him alone!"

"He's right, you know," Noboru said coolly. "You should listen to your partner, Specks, compared to you, he's the Player's guide of this game."

"Screw the game!" Harry snapped. He wanted nothing more than to run up to Noboru and punch him, since Neku had knocked his wand out of reach, but his partner was now holding him back by the arms. "These are people's lives! How dare you! How dare you treat this like some game!"

Noboru's eyes darkened considerably. He got right in Harry's face, snarling, "Lives? What lives? Don't you know anything, Specks? You're dead. All the Players are dead. The Reaper's Game is a contest to judge the worthiness of the Players, to determine who deserves a second chance at life."

Harry went limp in Neku's arms, the new information overwhelming him into shock. "I-I'm … dead?"

"That's right, you're dead. Your partner, Spiky, here, is dead. Everyone who's a part of the Game is dead. Didn't you read the manual?" Noboru laughed bitterly. "Right now, you're just another pawn on the chess board." He then turned his back on the two Players, ready to leave. "I await the chance to erase you two on day seven. Until then, Spiky, keep your partner in check." And then, he was gone.

"He left," Neku said, letting go of Harry.

The bespectacled boy, on the other hand, sank to the floor. Harry could do nothing more than stare at the ground, his eyes wide in disbelief, muttering, "I'm _dead?"_

-

A/N: Well, time for a survey. How many people who have not heard of TWEWY had no idea what was going on before this chapter? How many of you even knew that Harry was actually dead? If I wanted to summarize the plot of TWEWY in the shortest way, I wouldn't be able to mention that all the characters are dead because it's a spoiler. Anyway, there you have it. Harry's dead. Neku's dead. The Game is a contest to see who is worthy of a second chance at life. But how did Harry get to Shibuya? Stay with this story and you'll know why.


	4. Truth

A/N: I forgot to mention this in the note for last chapter, so I'll talk about it now. The entry fee for the Reaper's Game: the Players give up what they value most to enter the Game, which could be anything. Shiki, Neku's first partner, gave up her appearance; Neku his memories for the first week and Shiki for the second; his third partner Beat's entry fee was his sister's memories of him.

Players may not know what their entry fees are. For Shiki, it was pretty obvious … after all, she ended up in a body other than her own. Beat's entry fee and Neku's for the first week were a little less obvious … until the ending of TWEWY, it was believed that Beat's entry fee was actually his sister Rhyme's, and Neku's didn't know that his entry fee had been his memories until they were returned.

Point being, Harry's entry fee is his memories, but not in its entirety. I think Harry would value his memories of Ron and Hermione, of Hogwarts, and the magical world. His life before finding out that he was a wizard, after all, was not a happy one.

-

Chapter 4: Truth

He was back at the scramble crossing again, not that he cared. Harry didn't even care that Neku was nowhere to be found. Only one thought repeated itself in his mind: _I'm dead._

The revelation had been shocking in itself, but to hear it so bluntly from the mouth of the Game Master, as Neku had called him, was more than enough to unnerve him. There wasn't a lot he could remember about himself or where he came from, but he was certain that a Game to determine the worth of a person for a second chance at life was not part of his world.

Or was it? The people of Shibuya, the ones who had yet to die, wouldn't have believed it. Maybe all worlds had a Reaper's Game of their own, and Harry had never known about any of it because he had never died before.

But no, that couldn't be the answer. If all worlds really did have their own Reaper's Game, why was he in Shibuya? Why wasn't he participating in the Reaper's Game of his own world if it existed?

How did he die in the first place? Harry couldn't remember the last seven or so years of his life. It was all a blank. Everything before his eleventh birthday was intact, but nothing after that was there. The details of his death and the reason he died … were they part of the seven missing years? Or was it some random accident that he had died in? Why was he even participating in Shibuya's Game to begin with?

Harry groaned and held his head in his hands. "I can't remember anything. This is … frustrating!"

"Hey." Harry looked up to see Neku heading towards him.

"Hey …" the other boy returned the greeting.

"Looks like the mission's not here yet …" Neku said.

"I know that." Harry glared at the spiky-haired teen. Learning that he was dead did nothing to lessen his anger at Neku. Even if the redhead was also dead – and apparently on his second run through the Game – much of Harry's anger still ended up directed at him, because he was the only person with whom Harry had constant contact.

Neku sighed and took out his phone. "It never takes this long for the mission to arrive."

"So …" Harry said casually, "how _did_ you die?"

"…" Neku lowered his head, his expression hidden under his collar. "I … don't know. I can't remember how I died."

"Hmm …" A sudden beeping noise brought Harry out of his musings. "Oh, the mission." He pulled out his cell phone and read the message out loud. " 'Round 4. Defeat the boss of Miyashita Park. Time limit: 30 minutes. Game over will result in erasure.' "

As usual, once Harry had finished reading the text, his hand jolted with a sharp pain. Neku winced and grabbed his hand as well. "There's the timer."

"All right, let's start this mission," Harry said. "So … where is this Miyashita Park?"

"It's just past Towa Records." Neku crossed his arms and turned to face in the opposite direction. "We should have plenty of time to get there."

"All right, lead the way."

With a curt nod, Neku headed in the direction opposite of which he and Harry had gone the previous day. As they passed into the next district and ran by the Shibuya Department Store, Harry noted that there was no red Reaper in sight.

"Hi, Mina," came a voice from behind the Players.

"Oh! Hey, Ai!"

Harry and Neku paused and turned around. Two teenage girls wearing school uniforms, one with short black hair and the other with long brown hair, were standing outside the department store.

"It's those two again," Neku said.

"You know them?" Harry asked.

"Kind of." Neku scratched the back of his head. "Shiki and I had a mission last week involving them. They were arguing and drawing noise, so we had to help patch up their argument."

"These missions …" Harry furrowed his brow. "They can be anything at all, huh?"

"I guess so," the redhead said.

"So, Ai," started the girl with short hair. "Have you talked to Makoto at all?"

"Yeah, I saw him yesterday," said Ai, and her face fell. "He's been acting a little different nowadays."

"Hmm." Mina frowned thoughtfully. "It must be his work. The last time I talked to him, he's been having some troubles at work."

"Maybe …" Ai sighed. "I just hope he feels better before that Tin Pin match we're going to."

"I'm sure he will," said Mina. "Hey, I know what'll cheer you up! Let's go eat! I know where we can go!"

"Sure!" Ai smiled, and she and her friend headed toward the scramble crossing.

"Well … they seem nice," Harry said.

"Ugh." Neku scowled. "Come on, let's keep going. We won't make it in time if we keep on stopping."

Harry didn't argue with his partner even if he didn't like his tone. If he were dead, and if the Game was a second chance at life, then he wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks. All he knew was that he didn't belong in Shibuya, and he had a feeling in the back of his mind that there was somewhere else that he needed to be … somewhere important.

The next district that they entered was called Cadoi City, and – much to Harry's dismay – there were two Reapers in red, each standing in front of each exit. Neku sighed, annoyed, and walked over to the one farther away from them. Harry trudged after Neku, a disgruntled look on his face.

"Want past this wall?" the Reaper asked. "Then defeat all the noise possessing people here!"

"Looks like we're going to have to fight for it." Neku reached into his pockets and took out three pins.

"So … what are we supposed to do?" Harry asked.

"Use your Player pin to scan this area," Neku said, sounding irritated. "You'll know who is being possessed by noise."

"All right, then." Harry pulled out of his Player pin from within his robes, held it tight, and closed his eyes. At once, the sound of multiple voices filled his head.

_Aw, man! My shirt's on backwards!  
_

_I wonder if that girl from the Natural Puppy store will go out with me?_

_That guy in my class says he knows CAT. I wonder if I can get him to introduce me if I become his friend?_

As Harry listened to each person's thoughts, he began wondering why the Player pin allowed him to look into people's minds. Was it because the missions sometimes required knowing something that a Player would only know if he or she could read minds, or was it because he was dead and, therefore, not part of the living. On the second day, shortly after they had completed their mission, Harry had attempted to scan Neku. Not only couldn't he scan his partner, but the thoughts of the other two Players they had met, Kiyo, and Miyuki, were also kept from him.

Suddenly, a feeling of negativity washed over Harry and brought him out of his musings. Turning his scanning towards the negativity, he found that it was coming from two different sources.

_She is so lying. I know it! What is she hiding from me? Maybe she went out with Takeshi even after I told her I liked him?_

_My boss has been giving me dirty looks lately. How could he know that I skipped out on work two days ago?_

"Now, let's get rid of the noise." Neku's voice echoed in Harry's thoughts.

Harry was about to respond, but before he could he felt himself being pulled up and everything around him blurred into white. When the world returned, he found himself standing in front of a slightly distorted backdrop of Cadoi City. Two wolves, a hedgehog, and a slim blue serpent faced against him.

"Let's fight!" Harry drew his wand and pointed it at the blue serpent. _"Stupefy!"_ he shouted.

A red jet out of light flew out from the end of the wand and hit the serpent directly. The monster recoiled and shrieked. Harry was about to strike another blow when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flurry of quills flying at him.

Turning on his heel, Harry pointed his wand at the hedgehog and cried, _"Impedimenta!"_ successfully paralyzing it. Then, one of the wolves came running at him from behind and bit him on the shoulder.

Harry winced and held his shoulder. The second wolf noise was about to attack him as well, but Harry kicked it aside. He started muttering a spell to get rid of both wolves, which were circling around him, but a small blue disk hit him in the back.

"This is bad …" he said, doubled over in pain.

And then, he felt warmth surging through his body. His wounds were immediately healed and he felt his strength returning to him.

_Look, we'll have a better chance of defeating these guys if we sync together!_ Neku's voice rang in his head.

_Sync? But how do we …_

_Just … _Neku hesitated for a moment, and Harry could imagine him grimacing. _Just focus on me … and I'll do the same._

"Right," Harry muttered, holding his wand tightly and pointing it at the closest noise. _"Aguamenti!"_ he yelled, and a surge of water flowed from his wand.

He then turned to fight the hedgehog, which had just released another barrage of quills, but before he could fire a spell at it, the creature vanished in a burst of static. Assuming that Neku had defeated the hedgehog, Harry waved his wand and launched a spell at one of the wolves. As the light left his wand, a green disk of energy surrounded his body. The moment his spell had hit the wolf, the disk floated out of sight.

_That light … I've seen it before. _But Harry hadn't the time to think about it. He fired another spell at the same wolf and it too disappeared.

_It's called the light puck._ As usual, Neku sounded exasperated. _It makes your attacks stronger, but only if we're fighting in sync._

_So that's how it works._ The light puck had returned to Harry's field, and once he felt its energy within him, Harry shot a red jet of light at the serpent and it burst into static, defeated.

Only one wolf noise remained, and Harry stared it down, ready to finish it off. But Neku crushed it before Harry could attack it again. The battle now over, Harry imagined that he and Neku would be sent out of the battle zone; instead, he and Neku were taken into another battle zone, this time against five raven noise.

"And here we go again." Harry groaned. _"Impedimenta!"_

His attack never found its target. Again, Harry was surrounded by the same sensation that had accompanied every plane transition. He wasn't alone – Neku was standing close by him. The ravens were present as well, but none of them were moving.

"Let's finish this!" Harry shouted.

"No problem!" Neku said.

Neku and Harry then went into action. The two Players began firing balls of energy at the ravens, teleporting around the plane as needed. Harry didn't marvel at how he was able to do so; a battlefield wasn't exactly the best place for questions.

Then, it was over. When he and Neku stopped their barrage on the noise, they were back in the battle zone. All five ravens burst into static and vanished, defeated in a single attack. Harry blinked, and found himself already back in Cadoi City. Neku was talking to the red Reaper.

"Objective complete," said the Reaper. "Wall clear!"

"Great, now let's get moving," Neku said as he crossed into the next district, which happened to be Towa Records.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this. But what was that last attack we used?" Harry asked.

"That was a fusion attack," Neku answered. "As you probably saw, it's incredibly powerful, but we can only use it when we sync."

"So we couldn't use it before." Harry wasn't too surprised. He and Neku were barely cooperating now, and Harry could only guess at how terrible their "sync" had been when they first met.

Harry and Neku passed through Towa Records without issue, and they entered a dimly lit tunnel. There were a few large windows cut in the side and Harry could see cars going past on the other side.

"We just have go through this underpass and we'll be at the park," Neku explained. He looked down at his hand. "We still have eighteen minutes. Come on."

"Yeah, coming."

The two Players hurried through the tunnel and had almost reached the exit when a loud, high-pitched voice called out to them. "Yoo-hoo!"

"Who was that?" Harry asked.

Neku let out a shocked gasp. "You!"

Standing in the underpass behind Neku and Harry were two Reapers, a woman with pink hair and a man with a lollipop. The black bat wings on their backs let Harry know that they were Reapers, not Players.

"You again?" demanded the woman, sighing. "Like, who goes through the Game twice?"

"I … I don't know what you're talking about!" Harry said.

"Get out of the way! We don't have time for you!" Neku snapped, clenching his fist.

"Ooh, zing!" said the man, chuckling. "Let's make this quick, then, shall we?"

"Ugh!" Neku threw a quick glance at his palm and groaned again. "We don't have time to deal with these guys! We're going to have to make a run for it!"

"Huh?" Harry turned around to see Neku running at breakneck speeds out of the tunnel. "Wait for me!"

"What the –" The female Reaper stared after Harry and Neku, dumbfounded. "Where are you going? _Get back here!"_

"Chill, Uzuki," said her partner. "Stress is bad for your complexion."

Uzuki let out a scream. "Why should I? Who do they think they are, running like that!"

The man shrugged. "Ah, let them run. Why bother going through all the work to catch them?"

"… Are you really that lazy, Kariya?" Uzuki grumbled.

-

Neku didn't stop running until he was certain that he had put considerable distance between him and the Reaper pair. Harry followed him, panting and gasping for air.

"They just can't leave me alone, can they?" Neku sighed. "Well, we're here, Miyashita Park."

Harry glanced around. "We're supposed to be facing against some boss, so we'd better get ready for a fight."

"Right."

No sooner had the words left Neku's mouth than an animalistic shriek rent the air. Harry and Neku looked up and saw a large blue noise flying in the sky. Spotting the two Players, it flew down and landed on the ground, making the earth shake. It appeared to be a wyvern.

The two partners prepared themselves for battle. Once they had both been transported to their battle zones, Neku struck the first blow. Using one of his pins, he mentally grabbed a car that was placed in his battle zone and flung it at the wyvern. Harry, in his own zone, attacked the wyvern with spell after spell. As the boss of the park, however, it held strong through the Players' attacks.

_Let's try using that fusion attack again,_ Harry suggested.

_All right, but we've got to sync first._

"Not a problem," Harry said out loud to himself. Now that he knew what it meant to sync, and how to do so, it was only a matter of time before he and Neku would be able to use their attack again. _"Stupefy!"_ he shouted, hitting the wyvern with a red beam of light.

The wyvern let out an angry roar and spat out a stream of fireballs at Harry, who was unable to dodge and struck with the full force of the attack.

_You've got to be careful!_

_I know! I was caught off-guard. It won't happen again._ Harry caught a glimpse of the monster flying towards him in a tackle and avoided it in time.

About a minute later, Neku and Harry had synced enough to be able to unleash their fusion attack. _And not a minute too soon, _thought Harry, who was nearing his last legs. Neku had healed them twice, and even then the noise's attacks would wear them back down.

"Let's finish this!"

"No problem!"

Again, the partners released their fusion attack against their enemy. Unlike the ravens, though, which had fallen immediately to the energy balls, the wyvern noise was still standing. Weakened, but not defeated, it launched another series of fireballs at both Harry and Neku in the separate zones.

"One more attack should be enough to finish this," Neku said. He then used one of his pins to raise a column of flames, finally erasing the wyvern noise. A second later, he and Harry were back in Miyashita Park.

"Timer's gone," said Harry. "I guess we completed the mission."

"Yeah …" Neku sighed. "Only three more days left until this week."

"Three more days," Harry repeated. "All I need to do is last three more days … and then I'll have my answers."

-

Because the battle system in The World Ends With You is kind of unusual if you've never played it, I'll explain a bit more about the battle system. Harry cannot fight anyone without Neku fighting as well. In TWEWY, no matter how strong a person is he or she is useless without a partner. Harry could have his memories and all his spells and whatnot. If Neku's not fighting, he can't do anything. Another reason why Neku stopped Harry in the last chapter from fighting Noboru is because Noboru is the Game Master. He's the Players' enemy on the seventh day. You can't fight him unless it's the seventh day. They're going to have to wait.


	5. Headway

A/N: I know I haven't updated this story in a while. I haven't updated _anything_ in a while. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this story before I have to go back to college. There are only two more chapters after this, so it doesn't have that many chapters left. Let's just hope I don't get writer's block again.

-

Chapter 5: Headway

Harry yawned and stretched as he woke up on the fifth day. He surveyed his surroundings, wondering what unfamiliar part of Shibuya he had been dropped into that day. Much to his surprise, the starting point was none other than the Hachiko district, where he had first met Neku. His partner was leaning against the statue, looking at his cell phone. Undoubtedly, he was waiting for the mission to arrive.

"Hey." Neku shut his phone and turned to Harry. "Finally awake?"

"Yeah," Harry said. "So … I'm guessing that the mission's not here yet."

Neku was about to reply, but then there was a loud beep. "There it is." He flipped his phone open and read the message aloud. " 'Round 5. Guide the traveler to the meeting point. No time limit. Game over will result in erasure.' "

"No time limit, huh?" Harry let out a relieved sigh. "That makes this mission a bit easier. Now what's this about the traveler and the meeting point?"

"Hachiko is a popular meeting spot for Shibuya's people," Neku said, his brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Sounds like we're supposed to lead someone to this place. The question is who."

"Why don't we try scanning?" his bespectacled partner suggested.

"Right." Neku closed his eyes and held onto his Player Pin, concentrating on the people around him. Harry did the same. There were no thoughts in particular that caught their attention, but then one particular fragment caught Harry's attention.

_I wonder what's taking so long. Maybe I should have met him at the train station … but that's just a few blocks away from Hachiko! How could he have gotten lost?_

"That's got to be it," Harry said, dropping his Player Pin back into his robes pocket. "You heard that, didn't you, Neku?"

The spiky-haired boy nodded and crossed his arms. His oversized collar was hiding his expression. "We better get moving. Let's go check the station underpass."

Even with Neku's shirt hiding his face, Harry could tell that his partner had something on his mind. "We have all day to complete the mission, we don't have to hurry around."

"Sounds much too easy, doesn't it?" Neku asked. "It's the fifth day. Why would they give us a mission with no time limit unless they were up to something?"

Harry pondered that statement for a moment. "I see your point. We should be even more careful today."

"Best get this mission over with. Come on, let's get moving."

"Yeah." Harry's stomach then gave a loud grumble. "Um … can we stop somewhere and eat first? I can't remember the last time we ate."

"Well, there's a food place right over there in Shibukyu Stationside," Neku said, pointing to a small shopping center a couple paces away from the statue of Hachiko. For some reason, Harry had never noticed it before. "There's only one district between here and the train station. Let's make this quick."

The two Players walked into the mall and instantly became visible once again. To Harry's relief, Shibukyu Stationside was much smaller and much less crowded than the 104 building. And while his outfit did garner unwanted attention, there were not as many people around to see him.

"Hey!" A young boy in a white hooded sweater and black jeans approached Harry, an ecstatic look on his face. "Nice costume! Are you headed for the convention?"

"The … what?" Harry was taken aback by the kid's energy, and he had no idea what he was even talking about.

"We don't have time for this!" Neku grabbed Harry by the back of his robes and dragged him into a nearby fast food restaurant.

"See you at AMX, bro!" said the boy, beaming and waving at them.

"Welcome to Sunshine," said the friendly girl behind the counter as Harry and Neku walked inside. "What will you have today?"

Once they had ordered their food, Harry walked over the table farthest from the door and sat down. Neku took a seat across for him, flipping his phone open and staring at the mission message.

"Hey, Neku," Harry started, "what was that kid talking about?"

"It's nothing," Neku said irritably. He didn't look up from his phone. "Probably thought you were dressing up as a character from some TV show."

"What's a convention?" Harry asked.

"It's where people who share a common interest for something get together," Neku replied, finally putting his cell phone away. "Forget about it."

The next few minutes between Neku and Harry were spent in silence, until the girl from the counter called to them that their food was done. Neku picked up the tray and placed it on the table. Harry took his hamburger and fries from the tray and began eating. Neku started on his chicken nuggets, absentmindedly staring out the window.

"So …" Harry shoved a French fry in his mouth. "How are we supposed to know which guy we're supposed to be tracking down?"

"How should I know?" Neku shot back, stirring his corn chowder with the plastic spoon it came with. "We'll just have to keep scanning to find the right person."

"I could see why they wouldn't put a time limit on this mission," Harry grumbled, taking another bite out of his burger.

Neku took a sip of his cola instead of giving a response, ending the conversation. His partner now silent, Harry looked around the restaurant and found that it wasn't as crowded as he'd expected it to be. Only four other groups of people were seated at tables in the restaurant, and two people standing in front of the counter.

"Hey," came a voice from behind their table. Harry turned around to see three girls seated two seats away from him and Neku. "Guess what?"

"What?" one of the other girls asked. "Did something happen?"

"Ooh! I know!" squealed the third girl. "Hayao finally asked you out, is that it?"

"Um … not really," said the first speaker. Her face fell, but only for a second. "But my parents said we could get a new dog!"

"A dog!" Her friends' eyes lit up. "When?"

The first girl smiled back and shrugged. "As soon as we find one we like. Oh, I know! Let's go look at the puppies in the pet store across town!"

"Yeah, good idea Hitomi!" The three of them stood up from the table, tossed their stuff into a nearby trashcan, and heading out the door.

A second later, both Neku's and Harry's cell phones beeped. Neku frowned, pulling his out, and flipped it open. "A meme?"

"What's a meme?" Harry asked, looking at the message that had appeared on his phone. It read, "dog."

"Words or phrases related to the mission," Neku said, putting the phone away. "The statue of Hachiko _is_ a dog. Maybe this guy doesn't know what the Statue of Hachiko is."

"But … how do we use memes?"

Neku eyed the empty wrapper and container in front of Harry, then back at his own cartons. "You done?"

"Yeah." Harry was finishing his orange juice.

"Let's step outside. I'll show you how to use a meme." Neku pushed his chair back, threw his rubbish in the trashcan, and left the restaurant. Harry followed suit, catching up with Neku outside the shopping center where they were once again invisible.

"All right, we're out. So …" Harry waited expectantly.

"Hold on." Neku took out his Player Pin and began scanning the crowd around Hachiko. After several minutes, he slipped his pin into his pocket and pointed to a man lingering around the statue. "There, that guy in the suit. Use your Player Pin to scan his thoughts."

"Um … okay." Harry did as he was told. "Now what?"

"Use your Player Pin to imprint on that guy," Neku said, once again using his Player Pin to scan.

"How do I –"

"You use your Player Pin to put the word from the meme, 'dog,' into that guy's mind. If you do it right, he will suddenly think about the word from the meme."

Harry's scowl deepened. The idea of using a … meme, from a … cell phone, to insert thoughts into people's heads was odd to him. He followed Neku's instructions, however, and soon the man in the suit was rambling.

"A dog! That's it! That just what – no, no … that won't work." The guy's brow wrinkled in strain and he wandered away, muttering, "Aw, heck …"

Now that Harry had learned how to imprint memes, Neku wasted no time dragging him to the West Bus Exit Terminal, saying that the guy they were supposed to track down for the mission had still not yet arrived.

Once they had arrived at the next district, the two Players began scanning the people there to see if any of them were the traveler mentioned in the mission. But the only thought fragment that made Harry do a double take was from a man standing in front of a Moyai who was apparently talking to said statue.

"It's that statue guy from last week." Neku seemed to recognize him as well. "He's still talking to statues, I see …"

"Let's keep moving," Harry said, a little disturbed.

"Let's. Station Underpass. Move."

The teens sprinted across the street to the underpass, which Harry was already familiar with. They entered just in time to see a train stop at the station and passengers stepping onto the platform.

"Maybe our guy just arrived," Harry suggested. "No reason why he couldn't have boarded a later train and didn't tell his friend?"

"It's worth a try." Neku took out his Player Pin and began scanning the new arrivals. For a moment, it seemed like their person had not been on the train when a certain fragment jumped out at them.

_I finally made it. Hope Riku didn't get fed up and leave already. Can't believe my cell phone doesn't get service here. What's with that? Now, where was I supposed to meet him?_

"Hey, Neku –"

"I know. I heard it to." Neku crossed his arms and looked at the person the thought had come from. "Use the meme and get him to Hachiko."

"Right." Harry approached the guy and used the Player Pin to enter his thoughts again.

_Ugh. I can't believe I forgot the name of the place. Now how am I supposed to meet him? Didn't Riku say that the statue was of some animal? Of a … a …_

Harry used that moment to imprint the word "dog" into the guy's mind. And almost immediately, the traveler's eyes lit up.

"A dog! That's it, I was supposed to meet him in front of some dog statue! Not too many of those around, I guess."

The guy headed out of the train station and into the next district. Neku and Harry followed closely behind him, in case their target needed any further assistance. While Harry was certain that the guy would find his way to Hachiko without a problem, Neku wasn't as optimistic.

"Come on, it's only one district over, how could he miss it?" Harry asked.

"Last week, Shiki and I had to deal with a tech with short term memory … or something," Neku said sourly. "We needed to get him to fix the lights in A-East, but he kept on forgetting what part he was supposed to buy to fix the fuse box."

Not knowing what to say to that, Harry said nothing at all. He was still expecting the guy to make his way to Hachiko without a problem, but much to his surprise their target stopped in front of the statue of the Moyai, a confused look on his face. Wondering how anyone could confuse a Moyai with a dog, Harry angrily reached for his Player Pin and scanned the guy's thoughts.

_But … this can't be it. This is a Moyai … not a dog. This can't be it. But … wasn't the statue supposed to be near the train station?_

"I can't believe it." Frustrated, Harry shoved the pin back into his robes pocket. "Now what do we do?"

Neku sighed, his chin hidden behind his collar. He turned to the statue lover standing in front of the Moyai, wondering if it would help him lead the traveler to the right location.

_Hachiko's looking a lot better. Looks like all his problems were washed away, doesn't it?_

A beep sounded from their cell phones and Harry knew that another meme had just arrived. He flipped his phone open and saw the word "Hachiko" on the screen.

"I'm going to try imprinting him this time," Neku said. "This guy is just full of fail like the tech."

The redhead proceeded to do just that, and then the traveler looked up and said out loud, "Hachiko?"

"Oh, what is that about Hachiko?" The statue lover turned to the traveler curiously.

"Um … I'm supposed to be meeting someone there, but I don't really know where it is." The traveler shrugged sheepishly. "Can you tell me how to get there?"

"It's just over in the next district," statue guy said, pointing to the other end of the West Bus Exit Terminal. "You can't miss Hachiko."

"Ah, thanks, then!" The traveler was on his way.

Statue guy shook his head and turned back to the Moyai. "Some people just don't appreciate the beauty and marvel that you have. But yes, Hachiko is looking a lot better, isn't he?"

"Weird as ever," Neku said, crossing his arms and frowning. "Let's follow that guy. In case he does something more stupid."

"Yeah." Harry wanted to get away from the statue guy as soon as possible, even if he thought that the traveler couldn't miss Hachiko.

He and Neku had just entered the Hachiko district when they saw the traveler and his friend greet each other. They heard a third beep on their cell phones, a message that read, "Mission complete."

"Where were you, man?" the first guy demanded. "I've been waiting here for about an hour!"

"Sorry, sorry," the traveler said, rubbing his neck. "Well, at least I'm here, right? I got on a later train. My cell phones doesn't get reception in Shibuya."

"Whatever." The Shibuya native rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we wasted enough time already."

"I know. Let's get to the convention!"

Harry watched the two guys leave Hachiko and sighed once they were out of sight. "Another day down. Only two more after this."

"And only two more days before we take down the Game Master," Neku said.

"Yeah." Harry's green eyes narrowed at the memory of the Reaper who called himself the Game Master, Noboru. "I'm going to take him down. For all the other Players."

"You'd better focus on what the mission tomorrow will be." Neku looked up at the sky. "The Game is far from over."

-

A/N: Am I still writing Harry and Neku's personalities right? Neku's is a little harder because in TWEWY, he's the one who has to be informed of story information by his partners. Harry is even newer to the Game and Shibuya than Neku even without his memory was, so Neku has to explain everything to Harry.


	6. City Streets

A/N: Here's the second to last chapter of this story, and I'm hoping that it will be good. I think Harry and Neku's partnership has progressed from the beginning of the story. For those who think that their friendship – if you could even call it that – is moving too fast, it's supposed to. In the first week, Neku despised his first partner, Shiki, and by the end of seven days she was the most important thing or person in his life. Because your partner is the only person you can trust in TWEWY and you're stuck with them for seven days and depending on them to watch your back, wouldn't you become close to them?

-

Chapter 6: City Streets

When Harry woke up on the sixth day of the Game, he found himself in an unfamiliar area. Behind him was a large shopping mall, not as large as the 104 Building but bigger than Shibuya Stationside, and he was standing beside a phone booth.

"Day six," Neku, who was already awake and waiting, said. His arms were crossed and his expression hidden behind his collar, but Harry could tell that he was thinking. "Just one more day until this Game ends."

"Hey," Harry brought up, "I just thought of something. We haven't seen any of the other Players around in a couple of days. Does that mean … we're the only ones left?"

"Possibly. Most Players get erased before the seventh day." Neku sighed. "We could be last two Players still in the Game. So don't let your guard down."

"Right." Just then, Harry's cell phone beeped in his pocket. "The mission!" He pulled out his phone, flipped it open, and read the message out loud. " 'Round 6. Deliver the message. Time limit: 120 minutes. Game over will result in erasure.' "

Right on cue, Neku and Harry's hands surged with familiar pain. "There's the timer …" Neku muttered.

"Okay," Harry said once the feeling was gone. "So … what do we do for today's mission?"

"It looks like we have to get a message to someone," Neku responded. "Who's the guy we have to get it to, and what's the message?"

"Good question, but first … where are we?" Harry motioned to their surroundings.

"We're in Molco," Neku said, taking a look around. "Wonder why they would start us off here today …"

"Let's try scanning," Harry suggested. "It could give us some clues."

"It's worth a try, I guess." Neku took out his Player Pin and was about to start scanning the people in front of Molco, but then two voices caught his attention.

"What's this Reaper Creeper thing I've been hearing about?" came a girl's voice. "It's all people at school have been talking about."

"You place something lightweight on the Reaper Creeper paper, and you ask it a question," replied the boy with her. "Then the Reaper will answer your question by pushing the object onto one of three colored circles."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "This is what people have been talking about? Do they really believe this stuff?"

"Why don't you try it?" The boy produced from behind his back a piece of paper that had three circles outlined in white, brown, and black – the three circles making a triangle. "Just put something in the middle of the paper, and ask it a question."

"Oh … all right." The girl reached into her pocket and placed a five-yen piece on the paper. "So, um … what should I ask it?"

"Here, I'll start," said the boy. "Reaper Creeper … if you're here all right, go to white!"

Harry had a confused look on his face. "What are they doing?" he asked Neku.

"It's some sort of a game." Neku dismissed the question with an impatient wave of his hand. "But anyway, watch." Neku walked over to the pair and slowly pushed the five-yen coin to the white circle.

"Whoa!" the girl exclaimed. "It … it moved! It went to white! So … does that mean, the Reaper's really here?"

The boy shrugged. "Well, I wasn't moving the paper, and neither were you."

"Awesome! Just … awesome!" The girl grinned. "It's no surprise people are so hung up on Reaper Creeper."

Just then, there were simultaneous beeps coming from Neku's pockets and Harry's robes. A meme had been sent to their phones. Harry flipped his open and, sure enough, there were the words "Reaper Creeper."

As the two walked into the Molco department store, Harry turned to is partner and said, "Were you supposed to do that?"

"Last week, Shiki and I used Reaper Creeper to patch up an argument between two girls, which was the mission," Neku said. "Anyway, we'd better get moving. We're not any closer to figuring out the mission than we were before."

"Agreed." Harry shoved his hands into the pockets of his robes and sighed. "Maybe we should head back to the scramble crossing and – oh, no."

"What's the problem?" Neku asked.

"It's one of those wall Reapers," Harry said, pointing to the south exit out of Molco. "I was hoping that we'd seem the last of those guys."

"Well, let's see what he wants and get out of here."

Neku and Harry approached the Reaper, and once they were standing in front of him, the Reaper said, "Want past this wall? Not until you defeat the biggest Noise symbols here!"

"You heard him, let's scan for noise," Neku said. He closed his eyes and used his Player Pin to scan Molco. Floating near the entrance of the Molco Department Store were two large Noise symbols, resembling a sneering face with bat-like wings for ears. Harry and Neku immediately launched into battle against them. Once again, Harry found himself in a battle zone that was devoid of people and slightly resembled the Molco district. Materializing into the zone was a large brown rhinoceros and two green frogs.

Harry glared at the three Noise creatures. "You're going down!" He drew his wand from his robes and sent a blasting jinx at the three creatures. The spell somehow missed the frogs entirely, but sent the rhino veering back.

In Neku's zone, the spiky-haired teenager was not having much success damaging the rhino Noise. He attacked it from the front with his newly acquired Masamune pin, but the Noise did not even flinch. The frogs, taking advantage of Neku's distraction from them, mercilessly attacked him with their surprisingly powerful kicks.

_This is not working,_ Neku thought as he sent the light puck back to Harry. _I can't seem to damage this stupid rhino!_

_Really? Because my attacks are holding it off at least._ Harry sent a curse at the frogs, stunning them for a second. _How about we finish off the frogs first? Then we can deal with the larger Noise._

_Sounds like a plan._ Neku pocketed his Masamune pin, switching it out for Frantic and Onmyo. A high-pitched shriek sent shockwaves of sound, which emanated out of two speakers that seemed to appear from out of nowhere, slamming into the three Noise and left them paralyzed.

Back in his own battlefield, Harry fired spell after spell at the noise. One of the frogs finally succumbed to a jet of red light and burst into static. Harry was about to fire a hex at the other frog when he was suddenly sent flying into the air. While Harry had been busy fighting off the frogs, the rhino had thrown its head back and flung the bespectacled boy into the air.

Letting out a second shriek and using up Onmyo's ability, Neku put that pin away and reached for Frantic. Its power lifted the paralyzed frog and rhino into the air, spun them around, and slammed them into the ground. The second frog disappeared once it hit the pavement, defeated as well.

That left only the rhino to be dealt with. Harry turned to the one-horned menace and blasted it again. The Noise was still standing when the dust from the spell cleared. The rhino was slowly coming towards Harry, barely fazed by the attack, but before Harry could throw a second curse at it the rhino was gone. Neku, in his zone, had finished it off with a Masamune swipe to the back.

"That wasn't too bad," Harry said, readjusting his glasses. He waited, expecting to be returned to Molco, when he realized that he and Neku still had one more round to fight. Sure enough, another rhino Noise and two frogs appeared in the battle zone.

_Attack the rhino from the back,_ came Neku's voice. _That's their weakness._

_Good to know, but I can't seem to reach their backs!_ Harry gritted his teeth and suppressed a shout of pain. Once again, he was sent flying into the air via rhino head-butt. Recovering in midair, Harry made sure to land on his feet and not on his back.

Now that he knew the trick to defeating the rhino, Neku skillfully dodged a head pound from the huge Noise and attacked it from the back with Masamune. One of the frogs came hopping towards him, but Neku used his Force Rounds pin to knock it away from him.

Harry staggered back, having been struck by a painful blow from one of the frogs. He shot the offending Noise with a blasting curse, sidestepped the second frog, and fired a jet of red light at the rhino.

Shoving Frantic back into his pocket, Neku drew his Cure Drink pin. He swallowed down the liquid in the soda can and felt his strength returning to him. Replacing the Cure Drink with Octo Squeeze, Neku closed his eyes in concentration, clutching the pin as hard as he could. When he opened his eyes, he saw a miniature black hole in the center of the zone, trapping the rhino and the frogs in it. With an almost mad grin, Neku used Force Rounds until it ran out of power.

Growling as he was hit with a dizzying pound, Harry waved his wand and sent a hex at the rhino Noise. It reeled back from the attack but remained defeated. Sighing, Harry turned to the two frogs and struck them with a barrage of spells. He paused his assault for a moment to catch his breath and to avoid a rhino head-butt, but before he could lift his wand again both frogs vanished and turned to static. Neku had managed to defeat them both with Masamune in his battle zone.

_This rhino is starting to bother me. _Harry sent his thoughts telepathically to Neku.

_Now would be a good time to use our fusion attack,_ his partner replied.

_Of course!_ He had completely forgotten about it. _Then let's finish this battle!_

The Fusion Pin was glowing brighter than it had the first time they had used their attack, and the design that had appeared on the pin was different as well. When Neku had first activated the fusion pin, the blank pin had turned red and had a thin wand down the middle. Now, the pin was gold and had the image of a phoenix and a dragon on it. Examining the new design for only a second, Neku wasted no time in unleashing the fusion attack.

"I'm ready for this."

"Let's go!"

The two battle zones seemed to merge into one large zone. Harry was on top of a phoenix and Neku was riding a dragon. The rhino noise was frozen in place below them as if paralyzed. The phoenix and the dragon began circling around the battle zone, launching fire attacks as blue and gold energy balls bounced throughout the plane. And then, it was over. Neku and Harry were back in their respective zones, which had once again split into two separate planes, and the remaining noise burst into static.

"That," Harry gasped, once he and Neku had been returned to Molco, "was one painful fight."

Neku simply nodded and crossed his arms. "It's the sixth day. We have to be prepared for anything."

The red hooded Reaper, who had been observing the two Players the entire time, said, "Objective complete. Wall cleared!" and abandoned his post at the invisible wall.

"The wall's gone," Harry said. "So … what was the mission again?"

"We have to deliver some message," Neku said, looking at his phone and frowning. "We'll probably have to use imprinting again, since they sent us a meme."

"Oh." Harry shrugged, putting his wand away in his robes. "Let's go then. The sooner we finish this mission, the sooner we are to the final day."

"Yeah." Neku shut his cell phone. "Well, let's go. This road leads to Cadoi City."

With a brief nod, Harry followed Neku as the spiky-haired teen led them down the street. Not for the first time that week, Harry was relieved that he was both invisible and intangible while in the Reaper's Game. Otherwise, he and Neku would have knocked quite a few people to the ground and have been yelled at for it.

"We're here," Neku said, coming to a sudden stop. "Let's try scanning again. See if there's anything in particular that relates to the mission."

"Good idea." Harry took out his Player Pin from his pocket and began scanning the large crowd gathered in Cadoi City. He saw out of the corner of his eye that Neku was doing the same. But none of the thoughts seemed to have any relevance to the mission at hand. Harry was about to put his pin away when he heard it.

_Where could she be? Koichi told me that Hana was supposed to give me my reports in his stead. I really hope she gets here soon …_

"Well, it seems like that girl has something to do with our mission," Harry said, turning in the direction the thought had come from and seeing a trendily-dressed girl walk out of the Cadoi City mall. "So … now what do we do?"

"We go look for this Hana person, that's what," Neku said, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. "Let's move."

"Right."

Harry and Neku continued on their way, taking the left route and going past the Shibu Department Store. Stopping briefly in that district only to scan the crowd, and once they had determined that the mysterious Hana was not present, the Players went on to the scramble crossing.

"There's a lot of people here, as usual," Harry remarked, studying the large masses of people as they crossed the streets.

"Yes … there are." Neku's expression suddenly hardened, in an expression that Harry couldn't quite identify. His face still held a tinge of annoyance as he took out his Player Pin and said, "Well, the sooner we scan this place the sooner we can move along."

Giving a noncommittal shrug as his response – as Neku seemed to be in less than good spirits at the moment – Harry began scanning the crowd as well. The sheer number of people at the scramble crossing, the thoughts of every individual there, slamming into his brain at the same time made Harry momentarily dizzy. But he shook off the feeling and filtered through each person's thoughts, looking for anything that would help them with the mission.

"Nothing," Neku snarled after a minute of scanning. Jamming his Player Pin back in his pocket, the veteran Player turned to his partner and said, "No good. Let's go to Hachiko next."

"It seems like people generally meet up with their friends there. Maybe this Hana got the meeting place wrong –"

"Hana, you're not going to see her then?"

Neku and Harry exchanged glances, both having heard the question. Walking into the scramble crossing from the 104 Building were two girls, one dressed in the high-class and elegant clothes of Dragon Couture, and the second sporting the Gothic Lolita style of Lapin Angelique. It was the first girl who had spoken.

"No. Why should I?" came the bitter voice of the girl in Lapin Angelique. "She _knew_ that I liked Koichi. He's probably asked me to give her his phone number … or a love letter or something."

The girl in Dragon Couture shook her head and sighed. "You don't know if it's like that, Hana. Besides, I doubt Koichi would like it if you lied and didn't deliver Yukari's papers."

Hana didn't appear to be moved by her friend's speech. The friend sighed once again, a pensive look on her face. Neku took that opportunity to scan her thoughts.

_What am I going to do with Hana? She always gets like this whenever she suspects anything. I need to convince her to talk things out with Yukari … but how? If only there was some way to make her see things my way._

Harry and Neku had an idea of what that "way" was. Using his Player Pin to imprint on the girl, Neku chose the only meme present on his phone – Reaper Creeper.

_Hm? Reaper Creeper? Oh! That's it! Hana's definitely into that kind of stuff, and I have the paper with me. What a stroke of luck!_

"Great idea, Neku," Harry said. "You were right when you said we'd have to imprint on someone."

Neku gave an absentminded nod, more interested in seeing how the events between Hana and her friend would play out.

"Hey, Hana, I just had the best idea," said her friend.

"Really, Izumi? Does it have anything to do with finding out whether Koichi's actually interested in Yukari?"

"Well, yes." Izumi took out a 10-yen piece and a folded Reaper Creeper paper from her jeans pocket. "You've heard of Reaper Creeper, right?"

Hana's eyes widened immediately. "That's a great idea! Reaper Creeper knows all! Now I'll know for sure! I'll summon the Reaper." Hana took a deep breath and said, in a mystical voice that reminded Harry of someone he had met before, "Reaper Creeper … if you're here all right, go to white!"

"Here we go," Neku muttered, slowly pushing the yen piece onto the white circle on the paper.

The two girls gasped as the coin seemingly moved on its own to the white spot. "Ooh! The Reaper's here!" Hana squealed.

"This … this is … actually real," Izumi muttered. "I thought it was just a silly fad …"

"Okay, I'm going to ask my next question!" Hana's eyes suddenly blazed with a furious fire. "Reaper Creeper … this guy I like asked me to deliver something to another one of my friends, who knows I like him. Does he like her?"

"How … are we supposed to know the answer to _that?"_ Harry almost shouted.

"Well, we can't," Neku replied, crossing his arms again. "But we have to complete the mission. And we can't do that if she's angry."

"That's true." With a sigh, Harry moved the coin towards the black circle, which signified "no" on the Reaper Creeper board.

"_What?"_ Hana exploded, her voice filled with disbelief. "But … that … that … Izumi, are you moving the paper?"

"I'm not holding it, you are," Izumi replied, remaining calm despite her friend's allegations. "Ask it something else."

"Yeah, yeah. Right." Hana, looking more than a little ruffled, moved on to her second question. "Reaper Creeper … does Yukari have any feels for Koichi?"

Once again, Harry moved the yen piece to the black circle, drawing back immediately after doing so. Even if Hana couldn't see him or affect him in any way, her outburst had given him a bit of a shock.

"No?" The Gothic Lolita dressed girl's angry disposition was becoming clouded with doubt. "But … if they don't like each other, then why …?"

"I'll ask it a question next," Izumi said. "Reaper Creeper … should Hana just deliver Koichi's papers to Yukari, regardless of what they are?"

In response, Neku pushed the coin to the white circle as slowly as he could, making sure not to move it too fast lest Hana think that movement was a fluke.

"There you have it, Hana, let's just give Yukari her papers and you can ask her yourself if anything is going on," Izumi said.

"Yeah … you're right." With a dejected sigh, Hana and Izumi headed for Cadoi City.

"Let's follow them," Harry said, already running after the two girls.

"We'd better make sure they don't take any side trips," Neku agreed, following closely behind Harry.

The two Players backtracked their way back to Cadoi City, exiting the scramble crossing through the right street and going past the Shibu Department Store. Once they had entered Cadoi City, Neku and Harry saw the girl from before, Yukari, make a beeline for her friends.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here," Yukari said, her voice full of amusement, completely unaware of the debate Hana and Izumi had been having about her. "So, you have the papers, right?"

"Yeah, they're right here." Hana, forcing a smile on her face, handed a yellow manila envelope to Yukari.

"Aw, finally! Thanks, Han!"

Izumi, seeing Hana shift her weight from one foot to the other, obviously wanting to know what it was that Koichi had asked her to deliver, finally said, "So … Yukari, just what are those papers?"

"Hm?" Yukari looked up the sheet she had been looking through. "Oh, Koichi and I are partners for our English project. He was supposed to send me his half of the work so I could finish. He said he was too busy to send the papers to me himself, but I think he just wanted to talk to Hana." Yukari giggled and punctuated her sentence with a wink at her friend.

"Oh?" Hana's face turned bright red. "You, uh, really think so?"

"Yeah! He's been asking me all sorts of questions about you! I think he likes you!" Yukari giggled again.

As the three girls giggled and discussed whether Koichi truly did have a crush on Hana, Neku and Harry looked down at their palms and sighed in relief when they saw that the timer had vanished.

"Looks like we completed the mission," Harry said.

"It's the end of day six," Neku agreed, his jaw becoming rigid and firm.

"The end is almost within sight." Harry sighed and glanced down at his wand, turning it over in his hands. "We've come to the end of this crazy Game."

"All we can do tomorrow … is survive."


	7. Checkmate

A/N: It's finally here, the last chapter. Sorry it took so long. I was planning on having it done before the New Year, but my inspiration went away. Like it usually does when I'm on vacation. But here it is. Neku and Harry finally face against the Game Master. And now you'll all find out just what Harry is doing in Shibuya.

-

Chapter 7: Checkmate

"Today's the day," Neku said. "Day seven. The last day of the Game."

"Yeah." Harry took off his glasses, wiped them on his robes, and placed them back on his face. "I'm … kind of nervous. This Game Master … he is much stronger than the Noise we've been fighting this entire week."

"If we want our lives back, we can't lose to him." Neku crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, I wonder when he's going to send us the mission."

"Didn't you just say that today's mission is to defeat the Game Master?" Harry asked.

"But we don't know where he is, do we?" Neku replied, his voice tinged with a slight hint of sarcasm. "The day's missions don't officially start until they are issued by the Game Master."

Right on cue, Neku and Harry's cell-phones beeped simultaneously not even a second after Neku's statement.

"It's here." Harry whipped out his phone and flipped it open, reading through the text message. "Round 7. Defeat the Game Master at Spain Hill. Time limit: 600 minutes. Game over will result in erasure."

Once he had finished reading through the mission, Harry's palm surged with the familiar pain of the timer being burned into it. Neku's face held the same look as well. "There's the timer," the redhead muttered.

Harry placed his phone back into his robes pocket. "Well, it's our last stand. Let's win this. Let's do it for all the other Players who were erased earlier this week."

"Will do," Neku said, somewhat bemused by Harry's somberness – no doubt wondering where it was coming from. He turned to leave for Spain Hill.

"You know," Harry spoke up, not having moved from his spot. He took a good, long look of the scramble crossing, as if he would never see it again. "You and I … we haven't been the best of friends throughout the week. But I wouldn't have made it past the first day without you. You're not too bad, Neku Sakuraba."

"Humph." Neku shoved his hands into his oversized pockets, noticeably uncomfortable. "Yeah … you're okay too. Now come on. Let's take down that Noboru guy."

-

As he and Neku raced through the crowded streets of Shibuya, Harry noted the absence of the red-hooded wall Reapers. Perhaps they decided to be merciful and spare any remaining Players the pain of performing pointless tasks?

"Oho! You two are Players, are you not?"

Harry broke into a stream of mental curses. There went his hopes of making it through the final day of the Game without being harassed by wall Reapers. But when he turned to look at the Reaper that had called out to him and Neku, he realized that the Reaper in question did not wear a red hooded sweater. Instead, this one wore a black hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses, black sweatpants, and a dark red bandanna over his nose and mouth.

"We're in a hurry," Neku said flatly. "Move, or I'll be forced to move you myself."

The Reaper simply laughed at Neku's threat. "I don't think so. Today is Day Seven, the magical day when I finally get to attack you."

"What the –" Harry started.

"Get ready!" Neku shouted, his body tensing into a fighter's stance. "We're going to have to fight!"

The black-hooded Reaper laughed once again and sent a pack of wolf noise against Neku and Harry. Four of the wolves were a pale, sickly green with gray-blue tails. The remaining wolf had bright yellow fur, a flame red tail, and looked especially powerful. Harry felt the now-familiar sensation of being sent into a battle zone and found that he was facing against the wolves. Drawing his wand, he muttered a spell and made the ground beneath the wolves explode.

_Get out of my face! Take that!_ The green light puck soon followed Neku's voice.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, the red jet of light paralyzing two of the green wolves. The light puck passed from Harry to Neku.

In Neku's battle zone, the veteran Player was busy fending off the wolves. His Kewl Line pin took too long to charge. By the time he had gathered enough energy to unleash his attack, the wolf noise would strike and he would lose his concentration and, with it, the stored energy. Switching out Kewl Line in favor of Onmyo, he let out a loud screech. The visible sound waves stopped the wolves in their tracks. He pulled Frozen Cool out of his pocket and released an icicle from belowground that speared through the wolves.

"Reducto!" A jet of light shot from Harry's wand, struck the four green wolves, and created an explosion that disintegrated three of them.

_Good work!_ Neku, in his own battle zone, had used his Force Rounds pin to destroy the yellow wolf.

_Now we only have this thing to deal with,_ Harry thought as he stared down the remaining wolf noise.

_I got it._ Neku turned to the green wolf, Force Rounds clenched tightly in his fingers. "Any last words?" he shouted, blasting the noise with the pin's full strength.

The wolf burst into static as the energy beams hit their mark. Harry and Neku were pulled out of their respective battle zones and returned to the street where they had originally been. The Reaper that had challenged them was nowhere to be seen.

"Blast! We don't have time for this!" Neku swore, scowling at his palm. "The sooner we take out the Game Master, the sooner we can be done with this."

"Then we should go already!" Harry said, checking the vicinity for the presence of any more reapers. "Let's not waste any more time!"

"Right."

-

The path to Spain Hill proved to be rather uneventful after the battle with the black hooded Reaper, until Neku and Harry reached Molco. There was a large crowd gathered outside the department store, which the two Players ignored, but guarding the entrance to their destination was a wall Reaper. He appeared to be mumbling to himself.

"This is boring," the Reaper was complaining. "I've had it with these walls, standing here all day. I'm so hungry … aha! Want past this wall?" he asked, addressing Harry and Neku. "Then bring me a double burger!"

Harry turned to his partner, looking more than a little perturbed. "Is he sane?"

"Reapers more often than not give out really strange requests." Neku sighed and shook his head. "All right, back to the scramble. There's a burger place by the statue of Hachiko."

Shooting the wall Reaper another glare, Harry followed his partner as they retraced their steps back to the scramble crossing. Luckily, there were no other Reapers around waiting to ambush them or send them on ridiculous quests. They entered the Shibukyu Stationside in the Hachiko district, bought the food to give to the Reaper, and headed back outside.

As they headed back to Molco, Harry took the time to observe the people of Shibuya, to reflect upon the city's energy. Never had he seen a place of such chaos and diversity, where thoughts and ideals clashed and competed against one another. His neighbors from Privet Drive were all the same. They thought alike; they built off each other's opinions; they were all the same – unlike Shibuya, which seemed to be a breeding ground of people of all types imaginable.

He had been so lost in his mind that Harry didn't even realize that he and Neku had returned to Molco until his partner's voice broke though his musings.

"Here's your food," Neku growled, tossing the takeout bag at the Reaper.

"Sweet!" The Reaper grinned, reaching into the bag and pulling out the burger. "Thanks for the food. Objective complete. Wall clear!"

As the red Reaper abandoned his post, Neku and Harry lingered by the entrance to Spain Hill, unsure of whether they wanted to enter the district so soon.

"Well … this is it," Harry said. Despite the challenge that lay before him, his voice was calm and devoid of fear. It was almost as if he had already accepted the events that would unfold.

"Hang on, Shiki, I'm almost there," Neku muttered, just as determined as Harry was to put an end to the Reapers' Game.

The two Players turned to each other and nodded, in acknowledgement of the other's skills and readiness for the impending fight. Without looking back, they stepped into the district of Spain Hill.

-

"Well, well … I see that the finalists have finally decided to show up."

Hajime Noboru, the Game Master, stood at the opposite end of Spain Hill from where Neku and Harry had entered. He looked unchanged from the day that the Players had first met him, dressed in his logo-imprinted T-shirt and jeans. However, he was wearing an almost feral grin that made him look deranged.

Neku glared at him coldly. "Your time is up, Noboru. We will win this fight."

"I was hoping you two would survive," Noboru said, his voice dripping with malicious anticipation. "I couldn't wait for the change to defeat you myself. This will be a game to truly test my abilities."

Harry's hands clenched into fists. He had disliked Noboru when they had first met on the third day, and he disliked the Game Master just as much as he did then. "You call this a Game," said the bespectacled boy, "but these are real people and their lives that you are toying with! I will never forgive you for that!"

"It is not merely my existence at stake, but Shiki's life too," Neku said, shifting into a fighter's stance. "As long as you stand in my way, I will erase you myself!"

"Come at me, then!" Noboru declared, laughing. "Show me what you've got!"

And then, suddenly, the Reapers' wings on Noboru's back began glowing and growing, until they were as tall and wide as he were. The Game Master's body began to change as well. His humanoid appearance began to melt away, revealing his noise form – a dark blue wolf that was about a foot taller than Neku, capable of standing on only its hind legs as well as all fours. Noboru let out a wolfish howl as his transformation completed itself.

"W-what just happened?" Harry shouted.

"The Game Masters can transform into noise," Neku answered. "That's how they fight us. Be on your guard!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Harry said, his fingers wrapped around his wand. "Now let's get our lives!"

"I won't make it easy on you!" Noboru growled. His voice seemed to have been distorted with his transformation, sounding husky and much deeper than before.

With the promise of a fight about to start, Harry and Neku were pulled into their respective battle zones, for one last time. Noboru, like all other noise, was able to be present in both zones simultaneously. Neku reached into his pockets and drew out a handful of pins; Harry began mentally compiling a list of spells that would prove useful in battle.

Noboru made the first move. In his wolf form, he was much more limber and agile than either of the two Players. Neku reacted in time to use his Crackle Pop Barrier pin, creating a wall of flame that shielded him from Noboru. Harry wasn't as lucky. While Noboru had attacked Neku with a physical attack, he had launched an ice spell towards Harry. The wizard was unable to dodge or defend, and was sent flying backwards, crashing into the hard asphalt.

_Be careful!_ Neku snapped at him.

Deciding not to respond to his partner's reprimand, Harry lifted his wand and screamed, "Stupefy!"

The jet of light struck Noboru square in the forehead. Screaming in pain and anger, the Game Master drew his paw back and slashed Harry's chest, shredding the wizard's robes and shirt. Harry winced from the blow, but when he looked down he was surprised to find that he was not bleeding.

_Of course, I suppose the dead don't bleed._ Pushing the morbid thought from his mind, Harry fired another spell at Noboru.

In the second battle zone, Neku was using Velocity Attack to deal damage to Noboru while using the enhanced speed from the pin to avoid the punches and kicks that the Noise sent his way. His strategy had been working flawlessly until Velocity Attack ran out of power. Neku came to a screeching stop, only to be flung backwards when Noboru's kick connected with his face.

_You okay? _Harry asked.

_I'm just fine. Worry about yourself._ Neku managed to regain his stance before he crashed into the asphalt. He then took out his Konohana Sakuya pin and used it to heal both Harry and himself.

Suddenly, in the midst of the battle, Noboru let out a howling laugh. "You won't defeat me that easily!" He swept his left arm in a wide arc, shouting, "Second Level Fire Blast!"

A small orb of fire began flickering and forming in the center of each battle zone, then it expanded outward into a dome of flame and heat almost as intense as that of the sun. Harry and Neku both received the full blast of the spell, but were able to remain standing.

_We'll have to finish him as fast as we can,_ Neku's voice echoed in Harry's mind. _Let's focus our attacks and use the light puck to finish this!_

_Right._ Harry had belatedly noticed that the light puck that was usually exchanged between him and Neku in their battles had yet to appear. Neither had the Players been attempting to synchronize their attacks.

"Taste my blade, newbie!" Noboru lifted his arms into the air. Swords and lances and various other weapons began raining from the sky.

Harry pointed his wand at the weapons, ready to blast them into dust, but changed tactics at the last minute. "Protego!" he shouted, creating a barrier that protected him from being impaled.

Neku wasn't as lucky as his partner. A dagger cut his right arm as it fell dangerously close to him, and a lance left a slash on his pants. The redhead growled and used Enju to inflict a few slashes and cuts of his own on the Game Master. The light puck floated from Neku and drifted towards Harry.

_Got it!_ Harry exclaimed once he received the light puck.

Noboru was unfazed by the light puck, too confident in his power to believe that it would make a difference. "Can you keep up at the next level?" he taunted, his eyes narrowing. The Noise hunched over and adopted a fighter's stance, and then he began throwing kicks and punches at Harry, who reacted too slowly to dodge.

Feeling their joined health as it drained away, Harry used the Konohana Sakuya pin once again to heal. He then turned his attention on Noboru, who had paused briefly in his assault. Taking advantage of the situation, Neku drew Local Fire, Distant Sea from his pocket and channeled the pin's powers to pick up a nearby car and launch it at Noboru.

The vehicle smashed against Noboru, hitting him in the face. Furious, the wolf Noise snarled as he shifted his position to stand on all fours. He then pounced at Neku, teeth flashing, ready to sink his fangs into the Player's throat. Neku quickly moved out of the way, then used Force Rounds to attack the Game Master from behind.

In Harry's battle zone, Noboru's barrage of fists and feet had finally ended. The wizard had taken a rather painful beating, but he was still able to fight. Not waiting for Noboru to make the next move, Harry sent a Reducto spell at the Noise. He felt the light puck as it left him and went for Neku. Noboru, who was finally starting to look as worn out and tired as the Players felt, knocked Harry off his feet with a sweep kick.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, keeping himself from falling onto the pavement with a midair recovery. The spell hit Noboru in the chest and paralyzed him for a few short seconds. It was all the opportunity that Harry needed to unleash his strongest spells and curses on the Game Master.

"Out of my face!" Neku yelled as he released a fully charged attack from Kewl Line. The blade of energy made Noboru stagger back, but it also angered him even more. The wolf Noise sent a flurry of punches in Neku's direction, the last of which struck Neku in the face. The teenager flew back and landed on the asphalt.

_Are you hurt?_ Harry demanded of Neku, warding off a second round of Noboru's raining weapons attack with a Reducto spell.

_I'll be all right,_ was his partner's response. Neku got to his feet and took hold of Flames Afar, Foes Aflame, in his hand. The pin blazed a trail of flames that burned any enemy in its path. Once its power had run dry, Neku switched to the Onmyo pin, releasing a high-pitched screech that paralyzed the wolf Noise.

Too occupied to be annoyed with Neku brushing off his concern, Harry fired another Reducto spell at Noboru. It missed, and Noboru managed to kick him in the face, but Harry recovered faster than Noboru. The wizard screamed, "Expelliarmus!" and sent his enemy flying backwards and skidding against the ground.

The Game Master was nearing his defeat, and Noboru could tell. The two Players were no pushovers – that much was for certain. His desperation beginning to show, Noboru screamed, "I won't be defeated! Meteorite Hailstorm!"

A vortex opened up from above and started to rain meteors on the world below. In both battle zones, Harry and Neku felt the biting pain of the space rocks as they either struck them directly or smashed into the ground throwing up fragments at them. By the time the meteorite storm had ended, both Neku and Harry were extremely drained and weakened as well. It was true that the dead Players didn't bleed, nor would they have to worry about broken bones, but the pain that accompanied every blow and attack that made contact didn't disappear afterwards as it usually did. It was a lasting, distracting pain.

_We're … almost done for,_ Harry thought. He glowered at Noboru, who glared at him back. The bespectacled boy saw a hint of movement from the Game Master, and hurriedly raised a Protego charm to defend himself.

_No, we can't lose!_ Neku retorted angrily. _We can still win this. It's time we used our fusion attack._

_Fusion?_ Harry had all but forgotten about Neku's fusion pin. _You're right. Let's do it!_

Neku quickly activated the fusion pin, before Noboru could move to attack him. A flash of light blinded Harry for a second, and then he saw Neku standing beside him.

"It's not over yet!" Harry said.

"Then let's finish this!" Neku yelled.

Once again, the two battle zones merged into a single zone. However, it was also pitch black – so dark that Harry couldn't see anyone or anything. Suddenly, a flash of green light surged through the battle zone. It was for an extremely fleeting moment, lasting not even a second long, but Harry had seen both Neku and Noboru when the zone was lit up.

That green light … Harry couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity from the light. A bad sense of familiarity, as if it should bring back unpleasant memories. He shuddered.

Harry blinked, and then he realized that he and Neku had been returned to their respective battle zones. The pain from Noboru's final attack was gone. He and his partner had been healed from the fusion attack. The Game Master was nowhere to be found.

And then, he was back in the UG and no longer in the battle zone. Neku was beside him, looking extremely tense and on guard. Wondering what was causing his anticipation, Harry turned in the direction that Neku was facing, and was startled to see that Noboru was still standing in their way.

_But we defeated him!_ Harry was about to voice his objections, but Noboru spoke first.

"Well played …" Noboru's voice was labored and strained, and he was wincing as if it hurt to breathe. "I lose. You are … victorious." And with those final words, Noboru burst into static and disappeared from existence.

For a few seconds, neither Neku nor Harry dared to speak. The two Players stood in silence, until Harry broke the ice. "It's over. We won."

"We've defeated the Game Master," Neku agreed, finally relaxing. "The Reapers' Game … is over."

"I'm glad," Harry said, lowering his wand and sighing. "But the other Players … we're the only ones who made it through …"

"There's nothing we can do about it." Neku's voice sounded detached, but not cold. "All we can do … is live a little bit more. For their sake."

"Live a little bit more," Harry repeated, pondering Neku's words. After a short period of silence, Harry turned to Neku with a real smile. "You know, I'm happy that you were my partner. We may not have started off so great, but you're a true friend, Neku Sakuraba."

Neku shifted uncomfortably, as if he didn't know what to think about Harry's words. Finally, he said, "Yeah … same with you. You're not so bad yourself, Harry Potter."

Just then, the world around the two Players began to glow with a bright, white light. Harry let out a startled cry, reaching for his wand. "What's going on?" he shouted.

"This light … it doesn't feel bad, does it?" Neku asked.

"What?" Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on the feelings that the light was giving him. "No … you're right. I don't think it's bad. It's almost … welcoming."

"Like a welcome back into the land of the living."

"Yeah … exactly."

The white light continued to glow until it reached its maximum intensity. As the world around him disappeared, Harry wondered about the events that would follow.

-

When the brightening luminescence of the white light had vanished, Harry deemed it safe to open his eyes. He was surprised to find that he was no longer in Shibuya, nor in any place he recognized. The room he and Neku were now in was both ordinary and fantastic. It contained all the furnishings of a normal room – a sofa to the side, a coffee table in the center, a shelf piled with various pieces of artwork in the back – and yet, the floor and the walls appeared to be made of water. Harry could see the shadows of swimming fish below his feet, beneath the floor.

"Welcome, Players." The cool, baritone voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Harry, anticipating an enemy attack, reached for his wand. Neku, on the other hand, didn't seem to be surprised. Rather, a look of noticeable irritation made its way onto his face.

The sound of soft footsteps reached Harry's ears. The wizard turned around and saw somebody stepping out of the darkness that concealed the other side of the room. Once the shadowy figure had walked into light, Harry saw the person for what he was: a tall man with long, black hair that reached his shoulders; his eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, and around his neck rested a pair of red headphones that looked very similar to Neku's, aside from the color. He was dressed in a black suit and a gray dress shirt that was mottled with specks of white. The smirk on his face exuded confidence and power.

Harry was suddenly gripped by an intense loathing for the man – no, not the man himself. Somewhere, in the deepest trenches of his mind, Harry associated the man standing before him with another man to whom he bore a striking resemblance to. A certain greasy git, or whatever that was supposed to refer to.

"I see you have once again made it through the Game," the man said, directing his smirk at an irritated Neku. "Well played, Player."

"Excuse me, but who are you," Harry asked, not caring how rude he sounded.

"Oh, have I not introduced myself?" It was now Harry who was feeling the intensity of that arrogant look. "I do apologize. I am Megumi Kitaniji, the Conductor of Shibuya. Allow me to congratulate you for surviving the Reapers' Game, Player."

His dislike of the Conductor skyrocketing immediately, along with his temper, Harry snapped at the man, "A _game?_ Is this what it is to you, a _game?_ How dare you toy with people's lives like this!"

"I do not argue with the Composer's rules, I merely enforce them," Kitaniji replied coolly, unaffected by Harry's rage.

"The Composer again," Neku muttered, so quietly that Kitaniji and Harry failed to hear him. He was beginning to wonder exactly who or what the mysterious Composer was.

"And, as per the Composer's rules, the number of Players from this round who will be restored to life is … one. Congratulations, Harry Potter."

"What?" Harry shouted, panic and anger settling in. Neku, who was standing beside him, appeared to be furious but not shocked. "Why only one? We both worked together to get this far! You can't do this!"

"Harry." The young wizard froze, stunned into silence as the second voice called out to him. It sounded so familiar … and yet, he couldn't remember whose voice it was.

A second person emerged from the confines of the darkness and made his way over to Harry. His elegant dress robes were trailing behind him and pooling on the ground that he walked on. It was evident that he was of a much greater age than Kitaniji, and yet his very being had more presence than that of Kitaniji's. He had snowy white hair that tumbled past his shoulders, and a matching beard that almost touched the floor. Pale blue eyes twinkled with what may have been amusement, and at the same time seemed to pierce one's very soul.

Just looking at the man made Harry's heart clench painfully. He knew this man. And yet … he couldn't remember the man.

"Harry," the older man repeated, "why don't you come with me? There are some things we need to talk about."

-

Even though he hated to leave Neku behind to deal with Kitaniji by himself – as it was clear that Neku seemed to dislike the Conductor for one reason for another – Harry was unable to resist the urge to talk to the strange man, the man who felt so familiar … whom Harry felt as if he should know.

They had entered into another room for privacy, one that was not as grandiose as the room that he and Neku had originally been taken to. The room was painted in shades of gray and black, and it seemed to stretch on for miles, as far as the eye could see. There were no noticeable features, other than the large double doors that Harry and the man had walked through … and what appeared to be a throne on the opposite side of the room.

"Harry." The gentle voice cut through his thoughts. Harry turned his attention to the man standing in front of him. "Do you know who I am, Harry?"

He was about to reply in the negative – no, he didn't know for sure, but it felt as if he should – when a name suddenly surged into his mind. "Albus Dumbledore."

"Yes." The man seemed to almost beam with delight. "Very much so, Harry. I see that your memories are starting to return."

And with those words, everything that he had ever considered important came rushing back to him. All the memories that he couldn't recall seven days ago in Shibuya's scramble crossing.

Ron. Hermione. Ginny. The Weasleys. Sirius. Lupin. Neville. Luna. Hogwarts. The magical world. The Death Eaters. Voldemort. The war.

"Why … why couldn't I remember?" Harry asked, a hint of anger finding its way into his voice. "Why couldn't I remember any of this until now?"

"Shibuya is a very different place from that of our world, Harry," Dumbledore said softly. "Death is a permanent thing where we come from. And yet – why, here in Shibuya, those who have great Imagination are given the chance to regain the lives that had been cut short."

"My partner, Neku, and I … we made it through, but no one else." Harry choked back the frustration rising from within him. "How could he treat this like a _game?"_

"It may seem cruel to you, indeed," Dumbledore answered, "but you must understand, Harry. It is a great opportunity to gain back the life that one has lost. An opportunity that many, unfortunately, do not get."

Harry took a deep breath, forcing his mind into calmness. "But then … why am I here?" he asked. "I'm not from Shibuya. I was hit by Voldemort's Killing Curse. I should have died!"

The mischievous twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes became all the more evident. "You were meant to do great things, Harry. Perhaps the Fates believed that it was not yet your time to go?"

If Dumbledore's statement was meant to be assuring, it only made Harry feel worse. An opportunity that the people of his world were not meant to have – and because of a twist of fate, he was granted a chance to regain his life that others had not had. His stomach wrenched.

The two wizards remained in silence, neither willing to break the tension, until Harry looked up at Dumbledore. "I have to go back, don't I?"

"It is up to you," Dumbledore said. "You could choose to move on. Or you could stay here in Shibuya. You could become a Reaper and participate in their future Games. Or you could go back. It is your decision."

Considering his options for a second, Harry made his decision quickly. "I'll go back. The war is still going on. And …" He trailed off, unable to voice his concerns about Ron and Hermione and the others.

Dumbledore nodded. "I believe you can change the outcome of the war if you go back. Very well. Let us return to inform Shibuya's Conductor of your decision."

"Wait, Dumbledore …" Harry's mind was racing with questions – questions that held no relevance to Shibuya but were everything to the wizarding world. "Before I return … there are things I need to know …"

-

His return to wizarding world and the land of the living was unpleasant, to say the least. Harry was lying on the forest ground, in enemy territory, surrounded by Death Eaters. He could barely make out the hushed whispers of some of the Death Eaters, and ascertained from the words that Voldemort had passed out as he had fallen.

Everything appeared to be the way it had been before his life had ended. Had seven days truly passed in the wizarding world? Or had his restoration to life turned back time in his world? Was the wizarding world on standby as he fought for his right to exist in Shibuya?

And what about Neku? What had happened to his partner? Was he going through yet a third round in the Reapers' Game? Harry felt guilty about taking away Neku's chance at regaining his life. He had been dead longer than Harry had been. And he was fighting for his former partner as well. Would Neku survive a third run of the Game?

Well, his thoughts and concerns would have to wait until after the war. A Death Eater was approaching him, on Voldemort's orders to check whether he was truly dead, and Harry was not going to die a second time.

The war would end with him.

-

A/N: I'm finally done! Sorry to keep everyone waiting for so long, but if I had put out this chapter as early as I was planning on doing so it would have been really low-quality work. Not half as good as what I have now.

I'm planning on rewriting and editing some of the chapters (especially the later three or so chapters) so if you care to read the improved version of these chapters, check back occasionally to see if they have been edited or not.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read "Another World Ends With You."


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